KINGSTON, Ont. (November 21, 2014) – The Gaels women's volleyball team (5-3) defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves (1-8) in a three set sweep, 25-16, 25-14, 25-22 on Friday night at the ARC in Kingston.
 
In the first set the Gaels opened the scoring with a run of points, quickly pulling away from the Thunderwolves.  Niki Slikboer (Seagrave, Ont.), Shannon Neville (Cambridge, Ont.) and Brett Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) led the attack for the Gaels, Slikboer with four kills while Neville and Brett Hagarty both had three kills.   Brett finished off the first set with an unstoppable kill, making it 25-16 for the Gaels.
 
Queen's came out strong in the second set as they once again opened the scoring gap against Lakehead.  The Gaels played with strong defence shutting down the Thunderwolves at every opportunity with team blocks from Katie Hagarty (Aurora, Ont.) and Danielle Blumentrath (Burlington, Ont.).  Queen's dominated the final points of the second set with a kill from Slikboer to complete a nine point streak and end the set at 25-14.  

In the final frame, the Thunderwolves came out with confidence as they took their first lead of the match.  In response the Gaels were scrambling to tie it up at 10-10 but regained control to push past Lakehead.  When it looked as though Queen's had it in the bag, the Thunderwolves came back from a five-point deficit to tie the set up at 20-20.  Two back-to-back attacking errors from Lakehead finished the match with Queen's winning 25-22.
 
Slikboer and Brett Hagarty were the top scorers for the Gaels on the evening. Slikboer finished the night off with eight kills and one serving ace while Brett finished with a double-double of 12 kills and 12 digs.  Lakeheads Jasmine Fox led their attack with a game-high of 13 kills and 11 digs.
 
Catch the Gaels back in action tomorrow night at 6pm against the Brock Badgers in the ARC main gym.