The host Queen’s Gaels advanced to the semifinals of the U SPORTS Men’s Volleyball Championship after defeating the No. 4 seed Trinity Western Spartans 3-2 (17-25, 25-22, 25-17, 20-25, 16-14) in a five-set quarterfinals thriller Saturday at the Athletics and Recreation Centre (ARC).
CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: https://usports.ca/en/championships/volleyball/m
BOX SCORE: https://universitysport.prestosports.com/sports/mvball/2023-24c/boxscores/20240314_sebd.xml
U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian and OUA Player of the Year Erik Siksna led Queen’s offence with a game-high 21 kills and .545 hitting percentage. Reed Venning also had a strong performance for Queen’s, finishing with 14 kills in the win.
Trinity Western opened the match with a big first set win before the Gaels bounced back with a tight second set victory and comfortable third set win. The Spartans made sure the game went the distance with a fourth set win before the Gaels took the victory in extra points.
Queen’s finished the game with a .368 hitting percentage, compared to .356 for the Spartans.
With the win, the Gaels will be back in action Friday night at 6 p.m. in the Championship semifinals, taking on the winner of the last quarterfinals match between the No. 1 Sherbrooke Vert et Or and the No. 8 Guelph Gryphons.
The Spartans will next play Saturday night at 6 p.m. in the Consolation semifinals against the loser of the Sherbrooke and Guelph matchup.
MIKASA PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
Trinity Western: Piers de Greeff
Queen’s: Erik Siksna
STAT LEADERS
Queen’s
Kills: Erik Siksna (21)
Points: Erik Siksna (24.0)
Blocks: Izaak Zabjek (6)
Digs: Chris Zimmerman (7)
Service aces: Chris Zimmerman, Reed Venning, Dax Thompkins (2)
Trinity Western
Kills: Henry Rempel (18)
Points: Henry Rempel (22)
Blocks: Cory Schoenherr (6)
Digs: Henry Rempel (11)
Service aces: Henry Rempel (3)
