The Queen’s Men’s Volleyball team lost in straight sets to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in the OUA playoff semi-finals Wednesday night.
With the loss, the Gaels drop to 11-2 and will host the OUA bronze medal match against the Brock Badgers for a spot at Nationals on Mar. 19.
“I don’t think we performed the way we’re capable of performing […] definitely not the performance that we had expected to put forward for an OUA semi-final,” Head coach Gabriel deGroot said in an interview with The Journal.
Problems began early for the Gaels, who gave up five points to start the first set—which they would eventually lose 12-25.
The second set started off similarly, with the Gaels finding themselves in a six-point hole early on. The deficit remained until late in the set, where at 16-22 the team found life and pulled to within one before losing the set in heartbreaking fashion, 23-25.
After the second set, Queen’s couldn’t recover, and a 16-25 end to the third set put them out of the game.
“[We were] just really out of sync in our offense, and it took too long to get our serving game going, […] and as a result, Toronto jumped all over us and played a phenomenal match,” deGroot said.
“Credit to them for keeping us out of rhythm and keeping us out of sync.”
Along with some questionable calls and unfortunate bounces, DeGroot noted that it just wasn’t the Gael’s night.
“It was one of those games where it seemed like every bounce went their way” he noted.
Despite this, deGroot emphasized the calls didn’t truly affect the team’s performance.
“I don’t think at the time we were really impacted by the decisions of the referees or the calls,” he said.
“We’re starting too many sets down five, six, or seven points right at the beginning and then having to fight back. So, we need stronger starts to begin with.”
Looking forward to the bronze-medal match, the Gaels aim to build upon the bright spots of their bout against the Varsity Blues. Specifically, their ability to face adversity, which was showcased in the quarter-final game against Nipissing earlier this week.
“We have the character to bounce back from last night and put forward our best face on Saturday because ultimately, that’s the goal,” deGroot said.
“At the end of the day, just because it’s a bronze medal and our ticket to Nationals doesn’t mean that the preparation is any different […] We didn’t perform, we learn from it, we move on and we put forward a better face on Saturday.”
The Queen’s Gaels and Brock Badgers will face off in the ARC’s main gym this Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Queen’s Men’s Volleyball team lost in straight sets to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in the OUA playoff semi-finals Wednesday night.
With the loss, the Gaels drop to 11-2 and will host the OUA bronze medal match against the Brock Badgers for a spot at Nationals on Mar. 19.
Tags
Men's Volleyball, playoffs, University of Toronto, Varsity Blues
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