HAMILTON (March 6, 2020) - The No.4 Queen's Gaels (2-0) used a full five sets to defeat the No.5 McMaster Marauders (1-1) 3-2 on Friday night in the OUA Forsyth Cup semifinal.
GAME FLOW
Heading to the fifth set, very little could separate the two sides. With Gaels fans attempting to rival the deafening noise that came from the massive Maroon following, the wind looked to be in the Marauders favour.
Going up 9-7 off a Wojtek Kraj kill, victory looked in sight, but the defending champion Gaels proved their worth. Responding swiftly out of a timeout, the Gaels responded on a 3-1 run to tie the game and found themselves points away from the win after a pair of Marauder errors.
With the score set at 13-12 for the Gaels, OUA East Rookie of the Year
Erik Siksna got back what he gave up, bouncing back from an attack error with a massive kill off a
Zane Grossinger assist. A point away, OUA East Most Valuable Player
Zac Hutcheson clinched the win with a rebounded attack that settled the game.
The story of the final set was no exception, as the back-and-forth carried throughout the match. Early on in the opening set of the match, OUA All-Rookie team member Wojtek Kraj shone bright, bringing the Marauders into the technical timeout off a massive kill to make the score 16-14. Attack errors sank the Gaels from there and McMaster took the opening set.
After McMaster had been leading as much as 15-13, the Gaels went on to score seven straight points leading to a McMaster time out. Much didn't change, however, as the visitors outscored the Maroon 6-2 to close out the set.
The script in the third was much of the same as the Marauders pace on errors continued to plague them. Fourth-year setter David Doty showed his worth dishing eight of his game-high 53 assists, as well as four digs in the set. But the Gaels however, continued to capitalize on the home team's mistakes, going into the technical timeout up 16-8 on route to the set win.
With the gold-medal game on the line, the Marauders pulled out all the stops in the fourth, going for 16 kills as a unit. The squad reeled in the Gaels who got out to a 15-11 lead, picking up five straight points, as well as the set off a kill from Sam Cooper, followed by a Queen's error.
Queen's outside hitter
Zac Hutcheson, as well as McMaster's first-year middle Kraj were named players of the game.
With the win, the Gaels secured a berth to the U SPORTS Championship, and.are one win away from repeating as Forsyth Cup winners.
The host Marauders will battle for bronze with much on the line, as the third-place team receives the third, and final, national berth.
FINAL SAY
MUST SEE
UP NEXT
McMaster takes on Guelph at 5:30 pm on Saturday, while Toronto faces off against Queen's in the gold-medal game at 8 pm.
