Badgers drop first game of the season in Kingston

The Brock Badgers men’s volleyball team were defeated by the No. 4 Queen’s Gaels in four sets (25-16, 16-25, 20-25, 18-25) on Saturday, Nov. 18 in Kingston for their first loss of the season.

The Badgers’ kill leader was junior outside hitter Kylar Code with 10 while Grant Reddon led Brock with 26 assists. Devin Cooney was the Badgers’ dig leader in the game with five.  

Code got to work early for Brock, giving the Badgers an early 7-1 lead in the opening set.

It was kills from sophomores Cooney and Liam Strong that helped Brock earn a significant lead again in the set, making it 19-12.  

Brock took the first set 25-15 after a Queen’s service error concluded the opener. The Badgers had a .421 hitting percentage in the first set while also recording three service aces.  

The Gaels opened the second set with a commanding 6-2 lead.  After the Badgers took a timeout to put themselves back into the set, junior middle Jacob Ferland and senior outside hitter Sauli Lianga recorded kills to cut into the deficit.  

Despite a strong effort from the Badgers to swing momentum in their favour, Queen’s took the second set by a score 25-16 to even things at one apiece.  

The Badgers and Gaels traded service errors in the opening of the third set, with the scoreline reading 3-3. 

To keep the ball in play, Code made an impressive run beyond the baseline which eventually resulted in setter Reddon assisting a Ferland kill, scoring Brock’s 10^th point.

The Badgers fell behind late as Queen’s took the set 25-20. 

The fourth set begin with Queen’s taking a 4-2 lead over Brock and they widened their lead in the latter stages of the set.

A big block from Ferland kept the Badgers alive momentarily but the Gaels took a 25-18 set win, winning the game in four sets.  

Up next, the Brock Badgers (4-1) take on the No. 4 Queen’s Gaels (5-0) again, this time on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m. You can watch the game on OUA.tv.