For the third straight year, the Men’s volleyball U SPORTS National Championships will feature the Queen’s Gaels.
The Queen’s Men’s Volleyball team hosted the OUA semifinal game at the ARC against the Nipissing Lakers on Feb. 27. The Lakers finished as the seventh seed in the regular season; however, they upset the second-seeded University of Toronto (UofT) Varsity Blues in a dramatic three sets. With the Lakers’ win, the Gaels were awarded a semifinal home game due to being the second-highest ranking team left.
The previous matchup between the two teams came back in November, where both games ended up going into the fifth set. Each team won a match, making this matchup even more enticing going into it.
A highly intense atmosphere was present at the ARC as the game began, with the connection between outside Nikola Mitrovic, ArtSci ’27, and setter Chris Zimmerman, ArtSci ’27, setting the tone for the entire game with seven kills coming from them. The Gaels seemed to be in control for the first set long, capped off by Alex Brdrevic, Sci ’27, serving run to secure the 25-18 first set.
The second set started with an early Lakers lead that was carried late into the game. However, the resilient Gaels chipped away and were able to put pressure on the Lakers despite their offence going cold. The Gaels found themselves with a five-point lead after two separate offensive runs of three points that put them into a favourable position. The Lakers would fight back late to make it 24-22 with serve, but a well-timed time-out iced out the Lakers’ server, and the Gaels would take the second set 25-22.
A close third set for the entirety until the connection of Zimmerman and Mitrovic decided it was time to contribute to three of the final five points, and after another service error by the Lakers, the Gaels would win the game 25-22, taking the match and earning a USports National Championship berth.
Head Coach, Gabe deGroot, sat down with The Journal to discuss the playoff wins, but also the upcoming highly important games they’ll face. This team has been successful for the past three seasons, and deGroot is relying on his third and fourth guys to set the tone for these games. “They’ve all been on the floor for these situations, and hopefully they can share that knowledge and experiences down to the younger guys,” deGroot said.
Something very apparent from covering this team is how close they appear to be. deGroot is very keen on team culture.
“We definitely emphasize that [team culture] at the start of the year and what we want our identity of our team to be.” He continued to say, “We want to bring in guys who are going to enhance our culture and create a positive environment.”
Going into the OUA finals and the subsequent USports championships, deGroot is sticking to what he’s been preaching all year, his mountain climber analogy. “You got to get over these peaks, but you can only see one at a time; you can’t look too far ahead, whether it’s the OUA Final or the USports final,” deGroot said. “We’ve got to keep our eyes on each objective.”
The Gaels will look to climb to the top of the Forsyth Cup in back-to-back years.
Tags
Forsyth Cup, Men's Volleyball, U Sports National Championship, Volleyball
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