KINGSTON, Ont. (January 27, 2019) - The Queen's Gaels (7-6) were swept in three sets in a home game against the Ryerson Rams (12-1). The scores of each set were 25-18, 25-20 and 25-20. 
 
GAME FLOW
 The  Gaels got off to a rocky start early in the first set, allowing the Ryerson Rams to take the lead. The Gaels fought to find kills on the Ryerson defence but continuously got shut down by strong blocks. Luckily, attacks made by Julia Wiercigroch (Mississauga, Ont.), Saffron Van Der Linde (Vancouver, B.C.) and Arielle Palermo (Burlington, Ont.) allowed Queen's to slightly close the gap. Unfortunately, the Tricolour racked up 8 errors in the first set and they were unable to recover and take the lead. The Gaels lost the first set with a score of 25-18.
 
In the second set, Queen's were unable to stop the Ryerson momentum as they took an 8-point lead over the Gaels. The Tricolour struggled to limit their errors in the second set but a four point serving ace streak by Caroline Livingston (Kelowna, B.C.) got the Gaels back on track. Queen's battled back from a 7 point deficit but were unable to overtake the Rams. The Gaels lost the second set with a score of 25-20 off a service error.
 
The Gaels started out slowly early in the third set but were able to tie the set at 12-12 and overtake Ryerson and hold the advantage. Kills from Livingston and Van Der Linde allowed the Gaels to hold their lead but the Rams regained their momentum and eventually stole the advantage. The Tricolour fought to take the lead again but they were unable to surpass the Rams. Ryerson won the third and final set with a score of 25-20.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
5 - digs for Arielle Palermo
8 - kills for both Arielle Palermo and Caroline Livingston
33 - total kills for both the Gaels and the Rams
 
FINAL SAY
"I think we played really well today, but they were really offensive. I think we can start with working on our defence. Our goal this game was to serve [the Rams] tough and I'm not sure if we really executed that as well as we could have. But the fight was there and I'm really proud of our group." - Caroline Livingston
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels take on the Nipissing Lakers (3-7) in an away game at North Bay, on February 2 at 12pm.