The seventh-ranked Windsor Lancer men’s volleyball team were on the road this weekend up the 401 East in Kingston to take on the fourth-ranked nationally Queen’s Gaels at the ARC.
The blue and gold split the weekend with the tricolour getting the best of the Gaels on Friday night with a 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 16-25, and 25-20) victory before losing 3-0 (19-25, 24-26, and 22-25) on Saturday evening.
WEEKEND STATS Chase Bridges led the Lancers offensively on Friday contributing 12 kills in the winning cause while Kaden Reid racked up 10 kills of his own on the stats along with 3 service aces.
Markus Law-Heese dished out 36 assists in helping to lead his team over the Gaels with his creation of offensive production.
Bridges again led the Lancers offensively on Saturday with 9 kills in the loss.
FRIDAY GAME FLOW
The early portion of the first set remained close for both teams that were in the hunt for the opening set victory.
The blue and gold started to break away toward the midway mark of the set growing their lead exponentially and finding a way to stay consistent down the stretch to earn a 25-18 first set win.
With a 1-0 lead in the match Windsor carried momentum into the second set but the Gaels came ready to counter as they scored the two points and held an early lead on the Lancers.
Queen’s would continue to control the second set tempo before Windsor found a way to keep up with the pace and overturn the Gaels lead at 23-23 earning two points consecutively to take the second set 25-23 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set proved not to be the end of the road for the Gaels in this outing, despite the Lancers fighting early Queen’s found a way to extend the match to an additional set with their persistent play that opened up a wide gap on the scoreboard and triggered a fourth set with their 25-16 set win to make it a 2-1 Lancer lead in the match.
In set four, both squads battled hard before meeting each other on even ground at 17-17 where Windsor then shook the ground and found a way to land on their feet with consistency down the stretch which in turn led to a late push that propelled them to earn a 25-20 fourth set and stave off a fifth set and win the match 3-1 over the higher nationally ranked seeded squad.
SATURDAY GAME FLOW
The Gaels found a way to regroup on Saturday for their rematch. Eager to compete again both teams exchanged points early on before Queen’s stretched a lead out toward the middle of the set and obtain control in the later stages of the set to earn a 1-0 lead with a 25-19 result.
The second set was by far the most competitive set on the weekend with a 26-24 result going in favour of the Gaels however it was back and forth throughout the duration of the mid set that ended up giving Queen’s a 2-0 lead in the match looking to sweep the Lancers in front of their home crowd at the ARC.
Windsor put up another good fight in the third set with traded points steadily swapped but Queen’s found a way to get it done the way they wanted down the stretch earning a 25-22 win and 3-0 revenge rematch victory over the Lancers serving Windsor with their first loss of the season now sitting at a 5-1 record on the campaign.
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now look to host the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday November 15th at 8:00pm and Saturday November 16th at 3:00pm at the Toldo Lancer Centre.
Tickets are available for purchase in advance here or at the TLC box office on gamedays. The games will also be livestreamed on OUA.Tv where fans can tune in to watch the action from anywhere outside the venue.