TORONTO, Ont. (November 2, 2018) - The Queen's Gaels (1-2) were defeated in a 5-set road game against the Ryerson Rams (2-0) on Friday night. 

GAME FLOW

In the first set, the Gaels played evenly matched early on but took a five-point lead late. The Tricolour continued to build on their lead but struggled to close out the set. The Rams attempted to catch the Gaels with a three-point rally but Queen's ended the first set with a kill by Danielle Corrigan (North Vancouver, B.C.) and a score of 25-21.

The Gaels and the Rams played a back and forth second set until the Rams took a 5 point lead making the score 13-18. The Gaels tried to regroup and regain their momentum and managed to bring the score closer with a 3-point deficit. Unfortunately, the Gaels were unable to take the set and closed with a score of 25-19 in favour of Ryerson.

The third set began with a kill from Julia Wiercigroch (Mississauga, ont.) and throughout the set the Tricolour continued to push hard kills towards the Ryerson defence. Kills by Isabelle Korchinski (Anmore, B.C.) and service aces by Sierra Hardy (Oakville, Ont.) and Arielle Palermo (Burlington, Ont.) broke the 19-19 tie and gave Queen's the lead. The set ended with 25-21 win for the Gaels and and a game score of 2-1 in favour of the Gaels.

In the fourth set, Ryerson took an early lead and continued to build on their advantage. Kills by Palermo, Korchinski and Saffron van der Linde (Vancouver, B.C.) put the Gaels on the board but it was not enough to break to double digits. The set ended with a win for the Rams and a score of 25-8.

Like the fourth set, the Rams took an early lead holding the Gaels scoreless for 6 serves. The Gaels finally got on the board with a Wiercigroch kill and continued to fight to close the gap. Queen's lessened the Ryerson lead to only 3 points and a score of 9-12 but the Rams found the final 3 points to close the set and the game with a score of 9-15. The Ryerson rams won the set with a score of 3-2.

MAKING A STATEMENT
The Gaels came as close as any team has come to snapping the Rams undefeated streak that dates back to the beginning of the 2017-18 season. The last time the Rams lost was in 2017 when they dropped the OUA Bronze Medal game to the Toronto Varsity Blues. 

With their peformance on Friday the Gaels showed that they are a serious contender among the OUA East this season.

BY THE NUMBERS

5 - serving aces made by Saffron van der Linde

14 - kills made by Arielle Palermo

57 - total digs made by the Gaels

UP NEXT

The Queen's Gaels stay on the road for another road game in Toronto against the Toronto Varsity Blues (2-0) on November 3rd at 2pm.