Gaels weekend road round-up: week 17

Volleyball teams win big over RMC; women’s hockey split pair of weekday games

Defenceman Nicole Posesorski takes a shot from the point.
Image by: Matt Scace
Defenceman Nicole Posesorski (26) takes a shot from the point.

Women’s volleyball trumps winless Paladins

The women’s volleyball team (10-6) found an easy victory over the RMC Paladins (0-16) on Friday night.

Starting strong, the Gaels won the first set 25-18 before gaining momentum and winning the second 25-12. RMC dug deep to come back and win the third set 25-14, but Queen’s managed to regain control to finish with a score of 25-16.

Fifth-year Caroline Livingston had 15 kills, bringing her season total to 207—strong for third in the OUA, and only nine behind first. Alongside her, fourth-year Sierra Hardy is ranked second in the OUA for assists, adding 34 on Friday night to bring her total to 547.

So far this season, Queen’s leads the OUA with 769 kills. They also lead in points scored with 1,043. Ryerson is close behind with 741 kills and 1,003 points.

With the victory, the Gaels are on the heels of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues’ on the OUA leaderboard. Queen’s is third behind the Blues, who are second at 11-5.

The Gaels’ next match is against the Trent Excalibur (1-13) this coming Sunday, before their final weekend of regular season play, when they’ll host the Paladins and the Lakehead Thunderwolves (1-14).

Men’s volleyball bring win streak to six games

Stretching their win streak to six games, the men’s volleyball team (13-3) swept the RMC Paladins (1-15) on Friday night. The Gaels won the first and third sets 25-18, letting RMC climb to 20 points in the second.

Notably in the match, second-year Zane Grossinger had 39 assists. Meanwhile, fourth-year Zac Hutcheson’s 11 kills brought his season total to 247, ranking him second in the OUA—only 14 from the conference leader.

Similar to the women’s team, the men lead the OUA in kills with 797—89 ahead of second-ranked U of T. They also lead in points with 1,021 and assists with 715.

With their victory over RMC, the Gaels became the first team in the OUA to clinch a playoff berth.

Last year, the team competed at the U Sports National Championships after posting a 10-8 record at the end of the regular season and embarking on an improbable postseason run. They lost both of their matches at nationals, but it was their first U Sports appearance since 2011-12.

The Gaels’ next match is at home against the Trent Excalibur on Saturday.

Women’s hockey splits games

On Thursday morning, the Gaels (13-9-1-0) played a daytime game against the UOIT Ridgebacks (9-12-1-1), winning 4-3, but lost to the York Lions (6-11-3-1) 4-1 the following night.

Thursday’s game, played locally at the Leon’s Centre, saw a crowd of 555 local children before the Carr-Harris Cup that evening. 

After leading 3-2 at the end of the second period, the Ridgebacks managed to get the puck past goaltender Stephanie Pascal off a power play to tie the game, but first-year Hannah de Coutere scored a late goal to secure the win.

Pascal made 18 saves in the game, and four different players found the net for Queen’s.

Then, on Friday night—in a rescheduled game from late January—the Gaels fell to the York Lions 4-1.

Queen’s had the first goal of the game as fourth-year Katrina Manoukarakis scored in the opening period, but faltered from there on.

York responded on a first period powerplay before adding two more in the second, and a final goal in the third. All four of the Lions’ goals were on the power play.

Splitting their two games, the women’s hockey team are sitting fourth in the OUA, and are one of six teams in their conference to have clinched a postseason berth.

With only one regular season game remaining, Queen’s will battle for the extra points needed to secure home ice in the upcoming quarter-final series, which begins on Feb. 20.

They’ll travel to St. Catherine’s for their final regular season game against the Brock Badgers (7-6-6-2) on Saturday.

Tags

Men's Volleyball, women's hockey, Women's Volleyball

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