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OUA Final: Gaels soar past Gryphons to win OUA title
HAMILTON, Ont. - The Queen's Gaels are kings of the volleyball
court as they defeated the Guelph Gryphons 3-2 in the OUA men's
volleyball championship in Burridge Gym on campus at McMaster
University. Set scores for the match were 25-22, 17-25, 17-25,
25-22, 15-13.
The Gaels came out of the gates determined to improve upon their
silver medal finishes from the past two seasons. They quickly
jumped out to an 8-6 lead at the first technical timeout and fought
off some strong serving by Gryphons left side Andrew
Bartram of Aurora, Ont., to give themselves two set point
opportunities. The Gaels would only need one as a stuff block by
fifth year middle Sam Pedlow of Barrie, Ont., gave
Queen's the opening set.
However, the Gryphons were not travelling alone on this night as a
large contingent of fans made the trip to Hamilton, Ont. from
Guelph, Ont. to support their team and they made their presence
felt in the next two sets. Driven by this support, the Gryphons
used strong play from James Stamler of North Bay,
Ont., to take over the match and capture the next two sets by
identical scores of 25-17.
With another silver medal staring them in the face, the Gaels came
out to start the fourth set very poised with Niko
Rukavina of Mississauga, Ont., scoring some key points
early on to open up an 8-6 lead at the first technical timeout. The
Gaels would continue to stretch their lead thanks to the powerful
serving of Joren Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont., and
eventually, a stuff block from Michael Amoroso of
Toronto and Dan Rosenbaum of Hamilton, Ont. gave
Queen's the fourth set.
As the championship trophy sat waiting on the sidelines, Queen's
and Guelph put everything on the line in the final set. The teams
traded points early on before a big kill from Gryphons left side
Jonathan Whitton gave Guelph momentum and a three
point lead. Another Guelph point put them up 11-7 but once again,
the Gaels dug deep and managed to fight back. First, Bryan
Fautley of Oakville, Ont., put away a kill followed by a
stuff block from Rukavina to even the match at 13. From there, the
Gaels turned to OUA first-team all-star Zeeman and he made
back-to-back kills, the final one glancing off a Guelph defender
and into the roof of Burridge Gym to give Queen's their first
provincial championship since 2007.
Zeeman, who was named the Mikasa player of the match for Queen's,
was a force all match as he recorded 24 points, 19 of them off of
kills. Fautley chipped in with 11 kills while Rukavina had 10.
Rosenbaum was once again the setup man for the Gaels hitters and
finished with 45 assists.
Winston Rosser of Whitby, Ont., was the leading
hitter for Guelph with 14 kills while Whitton and Kevin
Stewart of Ancaster, Ont., had 11 and 10 respectively.
Libero Gabriel deGroot was named Mikasa player of
the match for the Gryphons after recording 11 digs.
This is the Gaels third volleyball title in five seasons. It also
marks the fourth banner won by Queen's this season having won men's
football, men's rugby and women's squash.
On Friday the Gaels rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Western
Mustangs in a dramatic come-from-behind victory to qualify for the
championship game. Guelph defeated the No. 1 seeded McMaster
Mustangs 3-2 to qualify for the final.
With the win, Queen's advances to next weekend's Canadian
Interuniversity Sport (CIS) men's volleyball championship at
Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C.
NOTES: The Gaels last OUA championship came during the 2006-07
season when they defeated the McMaster Marauders in a three game
series...the year before that, the Gaels defeated Ryerson to claim
the provincial championship...Pedlow is the only current member of
the Gaels who was on those championship-winning teams.
Courtesy of Queen's University Athletics and
Recreation
- OUA -
