KINGSTON, Ont. (November 4, 2017) – The Queen's Gaels (1-0) secured a victory in their home opener against the Nipissing Lakers in three straight sets. The scores the sets finished 25-12, 25-21 and 27-25. 

GAME FLOW
Queen's took the lead in the first set right off the bat. Zane Grossinger (Richmond Hill, Ont.) had four serves sent to the Lakers followed by a service error to help put the Gaels lead to 4-1. The Gaels had fantastic effort across the board and managed to keep the Lakers to a score of 12 by the end of the set. The men smashed 15 kills against Nipissing in the first set and only received one error.  First year Mitchell Neuert (Toronto), had eight attacks in the first set with three kills. The Gaels closed the first set with a score of 25-12.

In the second set, Queen's struggled to find the lead. The Gaels went point for point with the Lakers for most of the set, keeping the Lakers within four points. Markus Trence (Hockley Valley, Ont.) kept the Gaels in the game with eight kills and brought up the momentum with the help of Grossinger. The Gaels took the lead late in the set after scoring their 18^th point. Queen's pushed through and accumulated several points off Nipissing errors. The set ended on an attacking error by Nipissing after a strong serve by Jack Peckham (Hamilton).

The third and final set was the closest of the three. The Gaels played strong defensive and offensive games and never took a lead larger than two points throughout the entire set. The intensity was high throughout both teams and the Gaels struggled to return Steve Wood's killer serves. Great efforts made by Joel Rudd (Cambridge, Ont.), Trence and Peckham kept the Tricolour in the game.

The Gaels ended the game on a setting error made by Nipissing in an exciting extended third set. The final score was 27-25 for Queen's.

BY THE NUMBERS
11 – both teams had 11 errors teach throughout the three sets
18 – Markus Trence lead the team with eighteen kills
45 – Kills this game against the Lakers

FINAL SAY
"Nipissing has some really physical guys and we were really focused on our game plan from the start and we managed them really well. We have two rookies and three second years in the line up and I think they played extremely poised. Coming out of our pre season, playing the top five teams in the country, it really showed how much the guys have learned." – Brenda Willis

UP NEXT
The men take on the York Lions on November 5^th at 3pm in Kingston at the Queen's ARC. Tickets are available at www.gogaelsgo.com/tickets.