GAELS EXACT REVENGE ON MARAUDERS

For the Queen's Golden Gaels men's volleyball team, a semi-final match-up with the McMaster Marauders meant the opportunity for payback. Almost a year ago to the day, McMaster bounced the Gaels from the OUA playoffs with a big 3-2 win in the quarter-finals. Queen's was definitely motivated heading into the playoff rematch and the Gaels avenged that tough 2005 loss with a 3-1 win over McMaster to advance to the OUA Finals against the top-seeded Ryerson Rams. Second-team all-star Daniel McCrae had a match-high 16 kills, while Player of the Match Luke Lichty had 10 kills and 14 digs. Devon Miller, a first-team all-star, orchestrated the Queen's offence with 41 assists. McMaster took a 1-0 lead after winning the first set 25-21 but the Gaels stormed back to take three straight by scores of 25-23, 25-16 and 25-18. Steve Murray led the Marauders with 11 kills. Queen's finished second in the league standings behind the Rams and will now take on Ryerson in a best-of-three series beginning Tuesday in Toronto. Ryerson knocked out the York Lions 3-1 Saturday.

Third-seeded McMaster had advanced to the semi-final with a 3-0 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues Thursday. Daniel Smedley led the Marauders with 17 kills , while Sean Panchal had 49 assists.

In the quarter-final match-up of fourth and fifth seeds, the defending OUA champion Lions showed some resolve after going down a set to the Western Mustangs but rallying to take three straight, completing the minor upset. James Battiston had 13 kills for York, while Ryan Anderson and Sholan Trivedi added 11 and 10 respectively. Brad Girardo led the Lions with 35 assists. York dropped the first set 25-15 but turned things around and won the final three sets 25-23, 25-15 and 25-23 to move on. Western's first-team all-star Alexander Jerome paced the hosts with 13 kills and 12 digs.

(Photo by Changuk Sohn.)