The Queen's Gaels swept the TMU Bold 3-0 on the road on Thursday evening. The Gaels offense was led by two fourth year outside hitters; Nikola Mitrovic (Economics) who made 11 kills and 1 service ace, and Reed Venning (Arts & Science) who made 8 kills and 5 service aces. Fourth year setter Chris Zimmerman (Arts) made 29 assists and 2 kills, while third year outside hitter Ben Carr (Arts & Science) made 9 kills and 4 digs.
The Gaels opened the game dominantly, with Venning immediately making two consecutive service aces. Despite this, the Bold held strong, tying the score back up at 4-4. TMU proved to be fierce competitors in the first set, earning themselves a small 10-7 lead. Venning was consistent and powerful on the service line, picked up a third service ace to cut the TMU lead to 11-10. Mitrovic was playing well on the outside, making cross court kills and putting up an impressive seven kills in the opening set. Despite this, three consecutive points from the Bold resulted in a Queen's timeout. TMU found an 18-14 lead, unnerving the Queen's bench. The Gaels maintained composure, fighting back point by point to close the TMU lead to 19-18 and forcing a Bold timeout. Queen's struggled with their service errors, making eight in the first set, giving TMU a chance to keep the score close. The teams tied up to 26-26, however, the Gaels took the first set 28-26 with an unreturnable serve by Alex Brdarevic (Engineering).
Setter Zimmerman had a great start to the second set, making a huge solo block followed up by a kill off the second contact that stunned the Bold. Queen's appeared to have newfound momentum, with Izaak Zabjek (Kinesiology) making a kill followed by a service ace, bringing the Gaels a 5-2 lead. The Bold managed to tie the score back up at the 13th point, but Queen's was connecting on the attack, with kills coming from Venning, Carr, Zabjek, Brdarevic, and Mitrovic. The Gaels reached set point first at 24-19, and Mitrovic closed the second set 25-19 on a service ace.
The Gaels quickly built up a lead in the third set, but similarly to the second set, the Bold tied the score back up at the 10th point. The teams continued to tie up to 14-14, when the Gaels put up five unanswered points, including a second kill in the game for setter Zimmerman. Venning picked up their 4th and 5th service aces, and shortly after Zabjek came through with a service ace, bringing the lead to 21-16. The Gaels reached set point first and were able to finish the game 25-20 with a clean sweep on a kill by Venning from Zimmerman.
Up next, the Gaels will rematch against the Bold on the road again tomorrow night at 6pm. The Gaels improve their record to 5-0, having won 15 consecutive sets without conceding 1 so far this regular season.
