Gaels headed to OUA Final Four after a 3-1 victory at Western

LONDON, Ont. - The Queen's Gaels went into London, Ontario and stole a 3-1 win over the OUA West second-seeded Western Mustangs on Saturday evening to advance to the OUA Final Four. Set scores finished 25-22, 22-25, 25-17 and 26-24.

The Gaels will visit the highest remaining OUA seed for the Forsythe Cup Final Four which will be determined Saturday night. Head coach Brenda Willis, who is set to retire after the season, is guaranteed at least two more matches.

GAME FLOW
The Gaels got in front early in the opening set, building off a 12-7 lead that forced Western to take a timeout. After a Western service error put the Gaels up 24-20, Western was able to cut the Gaels lead down to two, but Zane Grossinger (Richmond Hill, Ont.) fed Zac Hutcheson (Kingston, Ont.) for a kill to put Queen's ahead in the match 1-0. 

The second set saw Queen's jump out in front early once again, building up a 7-3 lead in the early stages. The Mustangs did a better job of responding in the second set however as they fought back taking seven of the next eight points to take the lead.  The two sides stayed within reach of one-another throughout the set, but it was Western that edged ahead when they needed it most. Evan Cranshaw finished off the set with a kill 25-22 for Western to tie the match at 1-1.

The third set was once again a back-and-forth affair as neither team could pull away more than two points until Queen's broke through after being down 13-12. The Gaels put together a run that saw them take 10 of the next 12 points led by a pair of kills from both Markus Trence (Hockley Valley, Ont.) and Hutcheson combined with Mustang errors.  Hutcheson finished off the set with another kill for the 25-17 decision putting Queen's ahead 2-1 in the match.

With their backs against the wall, Western looked to keep their season alive in the fourth set and stayed ahead of the Gaels through to a 20-17 lead off a kill by Zeid Hamadeh. Hutcheson continued to give the Mustangs problems as he came through late in the set with big kills to get the Gaels out in front 24-23. On their second match point, Trence put down his 19th kill of the match to seal the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.

The Gaels now advance to the OUA Final Four next weekend.

Source: Queen's Gaels