WINDSOR, Ont. (November 25 2017) – The Queen's Gaels (6-2) picked up a road victory 3 sets to 2 over the Windsor Lancers (4-5). The scores of each set were 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 24-26 and 15-10.
GAME FLOW
The Gaels took the first point in the first set with a kill by Olivia van Baaren (Ottawa, Ont.). Not long after, the Lancers took a 4-point lead, keeping the Gaels at bay. The Tricolour caught Windsor's lead at the 11th point but attack errors accumulated by the Gaels gave the Lancers the lead again. Windsor found the gaps in the Gaels defense and sent several unrecoverable kills towards Queen's. The Lancers took the first set on a kill with a score of 20-25 and made the match 0-1.
The second set showed the Gaels' strengths with fantastic efforts by Isabelle Birchall (Ottawa, Ont.), Shannon Neville (Cambridge, Ont.) and Natalie Crews (North Vancouver, B.C.). The Tricolour took an early lead and kept the Lancers trailing behind for most of the set. Kills by Isabelle Korchinski (Anmore, B.C.) and Olivia van Baaren lengthened the Gaels lead and strong defensive play by the Tricolour kept the Lancers from catching up. Queen's took the second set with a score of 25-17 and tied up the match at 1-1.
The third set was played evenly between the Gaels and the Lancers keeping the score close throughout most of the game. Sierra Hardy (Oakville, Ont.) and Julia Wiercigroch (Mississauga, Ont.) both scored serving aces this set. When the score was tied at 20-20 the Gaels took the lead with team captain Shannon Neville scoring 4 kills to win the set. The Tricolour won with a score of 25-21 and made the match score 2-1.
The fourth set started out very strong for the Gaels as they took a 10-point over the Lancers. Kills by Windsor and errors made by the Gaels allowed for the Lancers to catch the Queen's lead. Before the Lancers surpassed them, the Gaels made several more kills to make the score 23-19 in favour of the Tricolour. Windsor made two serving aces and three kills and along with several errors made by the Gaels, the Lancers took the set with a score of 26-24. Windsor tied up the match 2-2.
The fifth and final set of the match started with great intensity by both teams. With a tied score of 8-8, the Gaels started to take the lead, keeping the Lancers at bay. Three kills by Julia Wiercigroch lengthened the Tricolour lead an won the Gaels the game with a score of 15-10. The final score of the match was 3-2 in favour of Queen's.
BY THE NUMBERS
5 – serving aces made by the Gaels
18 – kills made by Olivia van Baaren this match
32 – the Gaels accumulated only 32 errors against the Lancers
UP NEXT
The Queen's Gaels take on the York Lions on the road January 13th at 12 pm.
