A tremendous feat ends in a missed opportunity.
The Men’s volleyball team travelled to Windsor, Ontario, last week for the USports National Championships. With the Gaels winning the OUA Championship in Windsor just a week prior, they were ranked second in the tournament. Their first game on March 13 was played against the seventh-seeded Canada West Bronze medallists, the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
A Gaels team familiar with their surroundings used this to their advantage in the first set. Reed Venning, in his final USports National Championship, set the tone of the game with three hard serves that resulted in a couple of early points for the Gaels. The early lead gave the Gaels the tremendous swagger that they needed to be successful. The nerves of the game were evident late in the set as four service errors in a row, two on each side. The set would be closed out by Gaels outside Nikola Mitrovic, ArtSci ’26, with two kills to win 25-19.
The second set had a much different feeling for the Gaels, as the Thunderbirds started to take the momentum. The once swagger-filled Gaels lost their footing as the Thunderbirds’ offence arose from their first set slumber. The set started to become out of reach for the Gaels, leading to them calling two timeouts. The Thunderbirds would continue their dominance and take the set 25-18.
Tied at one set a piece, a big third set started with both teams looking to break away. The theme of this set for the Gaels was service errors, as they contributed six to the scoresheet. The Thunderbirds continued to hit hard with their best hitting percentage of the match. Ultimately, the Gaels would drop the set 25-17.
Entering the fourth set, the Gaels were hoping to turn their misfortune around and force a fifth and deciding game. The Thunderbirds got out to an early lead, with the Gaels posting nine errors in the set. The pressure would level up, as the Gaels would try to claw back, but to no avail, as the Thunderbirds would take the set and the match.
With the win, the Thunderbirds moved on to the semi-finals, which they would win but ultimately fall to the Trinity Western Spartans in the Championship final. The loss for the Gaels took them out of tournament contention, but they would later play a consolation game against the University of Laval Rouge et Or, ultimately losing 3-1.
For the Gaels, it was a highly successful season that brought an OUA Championship back to Kingston for the second straight year and a USports National Championship berth for the third straight year.
Tags
Men's Volleyball, national championship, OUA championship, UBC, Windsor
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.