Men’s volleyball moves on

Four-set victory over Université de Montréal propels Gaels to fifth-place game

Sunday, March 14

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – After a three-set loss to the Trinity Western Spartans in their opening match at the CIS national championships in Kamloops Friday, the men’s volleyball team rebounded with a four-set victory over the Université de Montréal Carabins Saturday.

With the win, they move on to face the host Thompson Rivers WolfPack in the fifth-place game today.

Outside hitter Bryan Fautley led Queen’s Saturday with 21 kills and was named the Gaels’ player of the game. He said the team took a different approach against the Carabins.

“We had to kind of change the attitude coming into the game, just because we’re not in the top bracket anymore,” he said. “We had to get over ourselves.”

Fautley said clearing their minds of the previous day’s defeat was crucial to the Gaels’ victory.

“Once we got over that, we bore down and concentrated on the game at hand,” he said.

Fautley said the Citadins played a style the Gaels were more familiar with, which gave them an edge.

“We were more at home,” he said. “Trinity Western’s speed really daunted us, so we had to get used to that and it took a little while. The pace of Montreal is a little more our style, so it didn’t take as long to get used to them.”

Fautley said Queen’s turned in a stronger game Saturday than they had Friday.

“We definitely passed better, and that gave us a better opportunity for offence,” he said.

Fautley said the Gaels clicked offensively in a way they hadn’t before.

“The sets were there today; [Daniel Rosenbaum] was setting great,” he said. “I’ve got to give him a lot of credit for how well I played.”

Although the team is no longer in contention for a medal, Fautley said winning on this stage will provide them valuable experience for the future.

“To come out with a win is always really nice, especially at a national level.”

Fautley said just being at nationals and watching elite teams has been a huge boon for the Gaels, though, and will help them going forward.

“It’s a totally different level of volleyball,” he said. “The guys that are supposed to be the number-ones and number-twos in the country, we get to see why they’re number-one or number-two. It’s great. It’s a really cool opportunity for us.”

The Gaels take on the WolfPack at 4 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Pacific today. The game can be seen at ssncanada.ca and followed via a live blog at sportingmadness.ca.

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