KINGSTON, Ont. (October 30, 2015) – The No. 9 Gaels (1-1) were swept 25-17, 25-23, 25-18 in three straight sets by the Ryerson Rams (2-0) this Friday night in their home opener.

GAME FLOW
The Rams opened the match with an early lead and pushed the Gaels way back on their heels as they hit their rhythm getting up 16-4 by the first technical timeout. The Gaels came back with a vengeance and put the brakes on for Ryerson who found themselves fighting for the set as the Gaels hit back-to-back kills to reach double digits. The Rams had too much of a lead for the Gaels to catch them, however, and Ryerson took the set 25-17.

The Gaels got their first lead of the match early in the second and then took off, getting up 16-14 at the technical timeout. The Rams found their footing then and managed to blow past the Gaels to a 22-21 lead just when Queen's thought they had the set in the bag. A fight to the finish, the Rams snuck in a second set win with a close 25-23 score, heading into the third up 2-0.

The Rams rode their momentum into the third set to claim the first point. Alexander Dawson smacked down four aces in the first half of the set getting the Rams up to a 16-9 lead at the technical timeout. Following the trend of the past two sets, the Rams kept inching towards the match point as the Gaels tried to catch them. Ryerson ended their night with a third 25-18 set win to wrap up three straight sets.

The Gaels were led by the Marko Dakic (Mississauga, Ont.) who scored 15 kills and picked up four digs in the match to total 16 points. Alex Dawson led the Rams with 13 kills, 5 serving aces and a percentage of 0.619. Lucas Coleman was also a force for the Rams with 12 kills and four digs.

BY THE NUMBERS
No. 9 – Queen's CIS top 10 ranking this week
15 – Kills by Dakic
5 – Aces for Rams player Dawson
8 – Digs by Ivo Dramov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria)

UP NEXT
The Gaels will be back in the ARC Main Gym tomorrow night (Saturday, October 31) this time hosting the Toronto Varsity Blues at 8:00 pm.