BLUES SWEEP GAELS; HEAD TO OUA FINAL

The Varsity Blues are headed back to the Forsyth Cup final. The No. 4 University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s volleyball team swept the No. 5 Queen’s Gaels 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 25-16) in OUA semifinal action on Wednesday night (Mar. 16) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

With the win, the Blues will take on the McMaster Marauders for the Forsyth Cup on Saturday, March 19 in Hamilton, Ont. Both teams have qualified for the U SPORTS championship taking place at the University of Manitoba from March 25 – 27.

“Our team has been focused and resilient throughout the year, and we are slowly peaking at the right time,” said fifth-year middle Jakson Paterson. “The crowd today was amazing and it was awesome to be in that atmosphere for a semifinal at home.”

TORONTO STATS: Third-year left side Evan Falardeau led all players with 18 points off of 14 kills, two service aces and two solo blocks. Mitchell Neuert, a Queen’s transfer took down his old team contributing eight kills in the win.

Rookie outside Hunter Arulpragasm chipped in with six kills, while middle Jakson Paterson hit .667, contributing four kills on six attempts with no errors.

Libero Daniel Tudor led all defenders with eight digs and setter Zane Grossinger distributed 31 assists in the sweep against his former squad.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Blues came out to a 5-0 lead, putting the Gaels on their heels. The Gaels would make it close pushing it to 8-4. The Blues surged ahead to a 14-6 lead off of a balanced attack and took the technical timeout at 16-8. Toronto kept cruising in the first, pushing their lead to 21-10, forcing a Queen’s timeout. The Blues would take the first set by a score of 25-12.

In the second, the Blues also went out to a lead as Falardeau had multiple kills to go up 6-1 as Queen’s called an early timeout. The Gaels would not go quietly narrowing, down the lead to 16-13 at the technical timeout. Evan Falardeau’s 6th kill of the set gave the Blues a six-point lead at 20-14, prompting a second Queen’s timeout. A kill from OUA East MVP Erik Siksna forced coach John Barrett to call his first timeout as the Blues lead whittled down to 22-19. A subsequent Julian Krygel block and Derek Chiang kill shaved the Blues lead down to one. Neuert’s fifth kill off of a tip sealed the set for the Blues 25-23.

The Blues attempted to charge ahead but the Gaels had other plans tying it up at 8-8 after being down 8-4. Queen’s would eventually take the lead off of a Siksna and Benjamin Moffat double block. Toronto would fight back eventually taking a five-point lead at 15-10 through multiple Blues blocks, taking the technical timeout at 16-12. The Blues would get big contributions from Arulpragasm and middle Hayden Cavender to increase the lead to 21-15 before Queen’s would be forced to call their second timeout. It was all Toronto from that point as the Blues would win the third set 25-16.

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