KINGSTON, Ont. (February 11, 2018) – The Queen's Gaels (12-4) defeated the RMC Paladins (2-14) in three straight sets on home court this afternoon at the ARC. The scores of each set were 25-14, 26-24 and 25-15.

GAME FLOW
The Gaels got off to a rough start in the first set of the game, making four consecutive errors and allowing the RMC Paladins to take a small lead early in the set. After a time out, the Tricolour reorganized and began to run their precise offence. Kills from Julia Wiercigroch (Mississauga, Ont.), Natalie Crews (North Vancouver, B.C.) and Makayla Keith (Calgary) allowed Queen's to catch and surpass the RMC lead. Two serving aces during a 9-point serving streak from Shannon Neville (Cambridge, Ont.) helped the Gaels maintain their gap over the Paladins. Queen's took the first set with a score of 25-14 on a serving error made by RMC.

In the second set, Neville made several hard blocks, keeping the Gaels defence alive. The Paladins played an equally strong defence early in the second set, preventing the Tricolour from making any kills. Queen's began to find their groove, with Isabelle Korchinski (Anmore, B.C.) finishing a kill down the right line and Wiercigroch making a tip kill down the right line. The RMC Paladins began to find the gaps in the Queen's defence and battle their way back from a deficit to tie the set at 20-20. The Gaels and the Paladins struggled point-for-point until the Gaels broke the tie with a kill by Danielle Corrigan (North Vancouver, B.C.) and a kill to central back court by Wiercigroch. The final score of the second set was 26-24 for Queen's.

A kill from Neville to the back left corner started the Gaels off on a great play. Another kill to the same position from Wiercigroch extended the Queen's lead. Blocks by Corrigan kept the Paladins from taking the lead. Corrigan continued to show her strengths with a kill to the back court left corner and a tip over the RMC block to extend the Queen's lead. Neville made a cross court hit in the third set and immediately after, Wiercigroch made a strong tip over the Paladins block for a kill. The Gaels took the third set with a score of 25-15 and the match in three sets off an error made by the Paladins.

BY THE NUMBERS
3 – Aces for Shannon Neville against the Paladins
8 – Kills for Julia Wiercigroch
9 – Only nine errors made by the Gaels against RMC

FINAL SAY
"We have a couple big games coming up next weekend so we really wanted to come into this weekend playing our game and that's what we did." – Shannon Neville

UP NEXT
The Queen's Gaels remain in Kingston on home court to take on the Toronto Varsity Blues on February 16th at 6 pm.