KINGSTON, Ont. (February 18, 2017) - The Queen's Gaels (9-6) dropped a three set decision to the visiting York Lions (12-3) at the Queen's Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC) on Saturday afternoon in OUA men's volleyball action.

GAME FLOW
The Gaels coaching staff honoured their three graduating athletes Will Hoey (Brampton, Ont.), Austin Payne (Kingston, Ont.) and Jamie Wright (Kingston, Ont.) prior to the match as the trio play their final weekend at home in the regular season.

In the opening season down 11-9 the Gaels were able to rattle off four straight points to take a two-point lead of their own. The Lions responded, taking four straight of their own and five of six. From there, the first set went back-and-forth but the Lions pushed ahead to the the set win 26-24.

Hoey secured the Gaels fourth straight point on an ace early in the second set as the home side got off to a quick start. The Gaels held a 15-9 lead looking to get to the technical timeout with a big advantage but the Lions were able to respond. York strung together six straight points before Queen's was finally able to secure their 16th of the match. York continued their momentum out of the timeout and ended the set up 2-0 in the match.

In the third frame, Queen's once again held their own against the Lions and were up 17-13 forcing York to call a timeout. The Lions scored five of the next seven points to climb to within one of Queen's. After being tied up at 22-22 the Lions struck for three straight points including two final kills from Alex Duncan-Thibault who finished with 19 to lead all players.

The Gaels saw a strong effort from Dylan Hunt (Aurora, Ont.) who finished with 11 points picking up five blocks and eight kills in the match.

BY THE NUMBERS
31 - Assists for Wright
22.5 - Points for the Lions Alex Duncan-Thibault
9 - Service errors for Queen's compared to just three for York

UP NEXT
The Gaels return to action tomorrow afternoon at 3pm when they host the Nipissing Lakers at the Queen's ARC.