KINGSTON, Ont. (February 27, 2020) - The OUA Forsyth Cup quarter-final opens up Saturday night as a pair of nationally-ranked programs go head-to-head in the No.6 Queen's Gaels who will host the No.10 Windsor Lancers at the ARC Main Gym. Tickets are available at gogaelsgo.com/tickets and Queen's Students along with Jr. Gaels are FREE. The game will also be streamed live on OUA.tv.
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS
The Gaels enter the Forsyth Cup playoffs as the defending champions after winning last year on home court at Queen's. This year the path to repeat will end in the OUA West as the top remaining OUA West team will host this year's Final Four.
A win over Windsor will send the Gaels back to the Final Four with a shot to repeat as champions.
ON A ROLL
After starting the season 0-2, the Gaels have won 14 of 16 matches since with their only two losses coming at the hands of Toronto. In those 14 wins the Gaels have lost only four sets with a 42-4 sets won/lost ratio. They have also won in straight sets for 11 matches this season and finished February with a perfect 5-0 record going 15-0 in sets won/lost.
SEASON SERIES
Queen's and Windsor met one time during the regular season in Windsor and the Gaels took down the Lancers in straight sets 3-0.
Zane Grossinger served up 38 assists and the duo of
Adam Boljkovac and
Zac Hutcheson combined for 25 kills in the victory.
LAST PLAYOFF MEETING
Queen's and Windsor have never met in the OUA playoffs before. The closest they came was last year when Windsor and Queen's were both in the Final Four. The Gaels defeated Toronto and Windsor lost to McMaster however to send the Gaels to the gold game and Lancers to the bronze. Queen's ended up winning gold while Windsor defeated Toronto for the bronze.
STAT LEADERS
The Gaels finished the season with players throughout the OUA individual leaders headlined by
Zac Hutcheson. The fifth-year Gael had the second best hitting percentage at 0.365, was seventh in points per set at 4.0 and ranked ninth in service aces per set at 0.36.
Adam Boljkovac led the Gaels in kills with 223 which was third in the OUA and his 0.289 hitting percentage was fifth best in the conference. Rookie
Erik Siksna ranked fourth in OUA hitting percentage at 0.294 and was fourth in aces per set at 0.41.
Zane Grossinger led the OUA in assists per set averaging 10.25 and finishing as the only player to average double-digits per set.
Lukas Kaufman averaged a team-best 2.16 digs per set, fourth best in the OUA.
For the Lancers, Pierce Johnson finsihed the season with 196 kills, fourth-best in the OUA and setter Nolan Langley averaged 8.60 assists per set which was also fourth-best in the conference.
SCHEDULE
Quarterfinal: Saturday, Feb. 29 | Windsor at Queen's | 8:00 pm
Final Four: March 6-8 | QF Winners at Highest West Team | TBA
