KINGSTON, Ont. (February 20, 2016)- The CIS No. 8 ranked Queen's Gaels men's volleyball team ended their regular season with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-7, 24-26, 25-20) triumph over the RMC Paladins on Saturday night at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC) to secure second-place in the OUA conference standings heading into the playoffs.

Queen's will now host the York Lions who finished in seventh-place in the OUA and the winner will advance to the OUA Final Four. The Gaels host York next Saturday at 3pm at the ARC Main Gym. Get your tickets by visiting www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets
 
GAME FLOW
Ben Harper (Ottawa) and Scott Brunet (Calgary) each recorded a game-high 17 points in the win. Harper also had a game-best of 14 kills, and worked at a .423 hitting efficiency for the Gaels, and Brunet picked up 12 kills and five blocks while committing no errors throughout the contest. Tyler Scheerhorn (Belleville, Ont.) added nine kills and 12 points in the win, which was the Gaels third in a row and seventh in the past nine.
 
Dale Towe picked up a team-high 12 kills and 15 points in a losing cause for the Paladins (0-20), who put up a tough fight after going down by two sets and tallying just seven points in the second. After working in the red during the first two sets of play, the RMC's offence re-ignited in the third set, jumping up to an impressive .345 efficiency.
 
Conversely, after an impressive second set where they committed just one attack error, the hosts took a bit of a step back in the third, tallying eight errors to go along with 10 kills. The Paladins were able to take advantage and squeak by with a close set victory to cut the Queen's lead in half.
 
The Paladins continued to remain strong offensively in the fourth, taking a 16-14 lead at the technical timeout. Head Coach Brenda Willis was taking no chances with second-place in the conference on the line, and re-inserted Marko Dakic as well as Mike Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.) for the latter stages of the set.
 
The men took five of the next six points coming out of the timeout, but the Paladins responded with three-straight to even the match at 20-20. Dakic went to work soon after, tallying three kills in a row and, after Towe committed an error to give Queen's a set-point, the Mississauga, Ont. native tallied his ninth kill of the match to seal the victory for his team as well as the second-place ranking in the OUA conference standings.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
8- The Gaels finished the regular season with an impressive 8-2 record at the ARC
.350- Marko Dakic's .350 hitting percentage ranks him third in the conference
17- Ben Harper's 17 points, 14 kills, and three aces was a career-best for the sophomore outside hitter
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels secured a home playoff date for next Saturday February 27 at 3pm against the OUA's seventh-seeded team the York Lions.