On Friday, March 1, the No. 3 seed Brock Badgers put up a valiant effort against the No. 5 nationally ranked and Ontario University Athletics (OUA) No. 2 seed Queen’s Gaels.
The hosts took the match in four sets 3-1 (27-25, 17-25, 25-27, 20-25) in front of a packed crowd at the Queen’s Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC).
“Tonight was an electric atmosphere, and I’m proud of how our team battled and never stopped competing,” said head coach Ian Eibbitt. “These moments build resilience and are necessary in our growth as a team and our ultimate goal of qualifying for nationals.”
The Badgers’ nationals hopes are still alive as the McMaster Marauders defeated the Guelph Gryphons in the other semifinal. There is one more bid for the U SPORTS Volleyball Championship that is still up for grabs as the host Marauders made it to the OUA final. The Badgers will host the OUA bronze medal match on Saturday, March 9 at 7 p.m. against the Guelph Gryphons.
Third-year right side Kylar Code had a phenomenal match, leading all players with 23 kills of 21 kills and two service aces. Outside hitters Sauli Lianga and Devin Cooney both finished in double digits in kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Veteran setter Grant Reddon distributed 42 assists and led the defence with 12 digs.
In the first set, the Brock Badgers doubled up the Gaels 8-4 off a Code kill. As the set progressed, the Badgers continued to maintain a multi-point advantage, turning Queen’s attack errors into numerous points. The Gaels kept chipping away, taking advantage of an overpass to reduce the Badgers’ lead to 23-21, forcing a timeout. The two teams then went back and forth into extras with a Cooney kill and a Queen’s hitting error leading to the 27-25 set one victory for Brock.
Queen’s fed off the home fans to take an early lead in the second set. Code did his best to keep his team in it with multiple kills as the Gaels tried to pull away. A service ace and block gave the Gaels a 13-9 lead and they did not look back, winning the set 25-17.
The Badgers earned a three-point lead at 14-11 in the third set from Cooney’s seventh kill of the match. Brock kept holding the lead until a Queen’s block brought the set to 21-21, forcing a timeout. Code was a strong attacker all set for the visitors notching his 16th kill of the match to bring the Badgers up 24-23. Both teams called timeouts late and earned subsequent service errors from the other side. It was the Gaels who prevailed 27-25, sealing the set with a block from Zig Licis.
Much like the second set, things started tight in the fourth, as neither team could establish a two-point advantage early. That is until the Gaels went up 13-10. A service ace that trickled over the net gave the Gaels a 19-13 advantage, leading the Badgers to call their final timeout of the frame. Showing some fight, Brock brought the advantage down to 22-18 but that’s as close as they would get, with the Gaels taking the fourth set 25-20.
“We learned a lot about ourselves and there is much to be excited about as we prep next week for our match against Guelph at home,” said Eibbitt. “Although we are disappointed right now our job is to decompress, watch film and shift our focus as we have so much to play next Saturday.”
Up next, the No. 3 seed Badgers (15-5) will host the OUA bronze medal match on Saturday, March 9 at 7 p.m. against the No. 4 seed Guelph Gryphons (15-5). Tickets will be available on Monday, March 4 at 10 a.m. at https://brocku.universitytickets.com. You can also watch the game on OUA.tv.