Rams defeat Gaels to qualify for first CIS Championship in program history

HAMILTON, Ont. - The Ryerson Rams men's volleyball team made history Thursday, qualifying for its first ever CIS National Championship with a 3-1 (22-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-22) win over the Queen's Gaels in the OUA semifinals.

BOXSCORE

The Rams also advance to Friday's OUA Gold Medal match where they will face the three-time defending OUA champion McMaster Marauders.

Ryerson will make its second ever appearance in the OUA final. The first came in 2005-06 when the Rams were defeated in a best-of-three series by the Gaels. That season, only the OUA Champion advanced to the National Championship.

"I think we showed a lot of resilience in this match," said interim head coach Dustin Reid. "This wasn't our best performance today but we really hung together and we played great as a team. Even when certain areas of the game weren't going the way we wanted, we didn't let that affect the other areas."

The Rams offence was balanced in the victory. Lucas Coleman finished with a team-high 15 kills, while Alex Dawson added 10 kills. Robert Wojcik, Marc Reardon and Uchenna Ofoha each added nine kills. Wojcik recorded four straight service aces in the second set and was named player of the match.

Mike Tomlinson was a one man wrecking crew for the Gaels, hitting 41 percent and recording a match high 24 kills.

The Rams jumped out to an impressive early 8-2 lead in the opening set which prompted Queen's head coach Brenda Willis to take a time out. The move proved to be a good one as the Gaels responded with an 11-4 run to take a 13-12 lead. With Queen's leading 21-20, a pair of Rams errors extended the lead to 23-20. A Coleman killed stopped the run but the teams traded points and Queen's took the opening set 25-22.

With the score knotted 20-20 in the second set, a kill from Coleman and a huge block from Reardon sparked Ryerson to a 24-21 lead. Once again the Gaels responded and tied the match 24-24. An Ofoha block followed by a controversial double hit called lifted Ryerson to the 26-24 set victory.

It was much of the same in the third set. With the Rams holding a 24-23, a Coleman kill would finish it and give Ryerson a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth, the teams again found themselves tied 20-20. The Rams would string together three straight points with the help of a pair of Queen's errors before winning the set 25-22 and the match 3-1.

Friday's OUA final is set for 8:00 pm at McMaster's Burridge Gymnasium and can also been seen live on OUA.tv.

Reid knows his team will need to be as resilient on in the championship match as it was in Thursday's semifinal.

"We need to have the same resilience and teamwork without a doubt," said Reid. "It doesn't matter who we play. It will be against a great team, a team we haven't defeated this year. We are going to have to find a way to play with a lot of energy and play loose."

Source: Ryerson Rams