Queen’s Men’s Volleyball Defeats Nipissing 3-1

In the second match of their double-header weekend against the Nipissing Lakers, Queen’s Men’s Volleyball secured a 3-1 win (25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21)

In the win, Zig Licis accrued 21 points for the Gael from 18 kills, two service aces, and one block. On defense, Licis amassed seven digs.

Setter Chris Zimmerman also had a standout game for Queen’s with 45 assists, three kills, and four digs.

While Queen’s never lead by more than four points in the first three sets, nothing seemed the faze the Gaels in the first and second.

In the first, the Gaels trailed slightly, until pulling ahead at the 19-point mark, aided by kills from Licis and Reed Venning, securing the first set.

The second set was a similar story, with the Lakers leading, although the Gaels pulled ahead earlier in the second than the first, assisted by kills from Licis and Dax Tompkins.

The Lakers were not ready to go down in three sets and upped their offensive pressure, securing the third.

“I think we let foot off the gas a bit too much. I think we let them into that set, and we need to do a better job of making sure that we keep the pressure on our opponents,” Head Coach Gabriel deGroot reflected.

“We reminded them to stay the course in terms of playing our style, which is the relentless pressure that we need to apply from the service line, our attacking, and our blocking. We play a very physical game and we let other teams in if we don’t maintain that physical pressure,” deGroot added.

In the fourth, the Gaels picked up a more consistent lead than the previous sets, taking deGroot’s reminder to heart. The team pulled ahead early and maintained their offensive pressure at the net to secure their second regular season victory.

Looking ahead to their upcoming matches, Men’s Volleyball plans to build on the momentum that they’ve gained from their past seasons.

“I think we continue to build on a strong culture of making sure that everyone is all bought in to once common goal and we have lofty goals this season, no different that last season and the year before,” deGroot said.

Men’s Volleyball is back in action next weekend, taking on the Brock Badgers in St. Catharines. The games are available to stream on oua.tv.