The Queen's Gaels are in the playoff hunt, and their journey to the Quigley Cup begins Saturday at Western. Game time is set for 2 pm, and fans can watch it live online at OUA.tv.

The Gaels finished the regular season with a 13-6 record to finish third in the OUA East while Western had a similar 13-6 record but were able to come away with second place in the OUA West.

The winner will advance to the OUA Final Four and will take on the winner of the Ryerson and Waterloo matchup.

SEASON MEETING
The Gaels and Mustangs met once in the regular season back in late November where Western took the match in straight sets 3-0 at home against the Gaels. 

Western had strong games from veterans Kelsey Veltman (13 kills, 16 points) and Kat Tsiofas (31 assists, six blocks), who is the older sister of rookie Gaels libero Alexandra Tsiofas. The Gaels themselves caused their undoing that day with an off game committing 37 errors in the match compared to just 20 for Western.

EAST VS WEST
Despite finishing third in the OUA East, the Gaels are a team to be reckoned with in the OUA playoffs. The strength of the East division compared to the West is evident, of the four remaining teams the East record was 55-21 compared to a 47-29 record for the top four West teams.

The top seed in the OUA West McMaster Marauders lost to both Ryerson and Queen's, who swept McMaster in straight sets in Kingston.

NEVILLE AND VELTMAN
Two of the top outside hitters in the OUA will do battle on Saturday as Shannon Neville, and Kelsey Veltman lead their respective teams into the OUA playoffs. Neville finished with 3.25 kills per set good for sixth in the OUA while finishing third in total points with 283.5. Veltman has been a force for the Mustangs finishing first in the OUA in points per set at 4.9 and leading in solo blocks with 36 on the season.

BATTLE AT THE NET
The Mustangs are one of the better blocking teams in the OUA this season lead by Veltman and Dani Grasman who average 1.20 and 0.96 blocks per set respectively. The Mustangs boast four of the top 17 OUA blocks per set leaders this season. Sitting third in the OUA in blocks per set at 0.99 is the Gaels Natalie Crews who finished out the season at Trent with eight block assists and sports a seven solo block game on her resume back in January in a win over Toronto. Makayla Keith will join Crews at the net for the Gaels as a standout who finished 14th in blocks per set at 0.69.

TEAM STATS
While the Mustangs are led by a handful of veterans in their play, this season the Gaels main strength may be their team effort and depth. Led by setter Sierra Hardy who averaged 8.19 assists per set, Queen's finished second in kills per set (11.56), third in service aces per set (2.14), fourth in assists per set, and had the fifth-best attack percentage (0.196).

The Gaels boast veteran's Neville and left-handed Isabelle Korchinski along with standout rookie Julia Wiercigroch from the outside. Queen's has also been boosted by the return of veteran outside hitter Caroline Livingston who missed the majority of the season due to injury but returned for two of the final three games picking up 10.5 points in the season finale at Trent.