TORONTO, Ont. (November 26, 2016) - The Queen's Gaels (5-3) lost on the road in Toronto Saturday afternoon where they were defeated 3-1 by the York Lions (4-2). The Lions took the match in four sets with scores of 25-22, 21-25, 26-24, and 25-23.
GAME FLOW
The Lions took the first point of the set, an indication of how the set would end. The Gaels kept it close early, but York jumped out to a 16-11 lead by the technical timeout. The Lions lead was insurmountable, as they continued to earn kills and increase their score. The Gaels ended up losing the first set 22-25.
Queen's looked to even the match in the second set, taking the first point of the game and setting the pace of the set. Consistent serving by Zac Hutcheson (Kingston, Ont.) and errors by the Lions gave the Gaels an early 5-0 run en route to a 6-1 lead. After York came back to tie the score at 11-11, the tricolour were able to work together to reestablish their lead. Queen's was winning 24-16 before the Lions strung a series of points together to make the final score more respectable. Markus Trence (Orangeville, Ont.) finished the set off with a powerful kill to give the Gaels a 25-21 win.
In the third set, the lead exchanged hands, and had Queen's winning 22-18 with a chance to take the lead in the match. The Gaels gave their first set point away on a setting error, and the Lions used that momentum to come back and win the set 26-24.
The Gaels led the fourth set up until the technical timeout, after which York promptly tied the game at 16-16. Queen's was back in the lead until 22-21, when York took advantage of three consecutive attacking errors by the tricolour to win the match on a 25-23 fourth set victory.
Hutcheson had a game-high 12 digs for Queen's in addition to contributing 10 kills. Trence had a team-high 19 kills, getting passes from Jamie Wright (Kingston, Ont.) and Thomas Ellison (Winnipeg), who split the setting duties for the Gaels.
Alex Duncan-Thibault had a game-high 24 kills for the Lions, while Jules Muhawe had a team-high 10 digs.
BY THE NUMBERS
0 - There was no difference in the number of attacking or service errors by each team
1- The Gaels had one more dig with 51 over the Lions 50 digs for the game
1 - York had one more kill with 51 over Queen's 50
1 - Zac Hutcheson leads the OUA for Digs this season with a total of 66
1 - Marcus Trence leads the OUA for kills with 143 so far this season
1 - Jamie Wright leads the OUA with an average number of 10.13 sets per game
24 - The 24 kills for York's Alex Duncan-Thibault set a new career-high
UP NEXT
The Gaels will continue their travels this weekend by going from Toronto to North Bay, Ont., where they will be facing the Nipissing Lakers at 2pm tomorrow.
