Banner Season: Varsity Blues, defending champ Gaels punch their ticket to Forsyth Cup final

Hamilton, Ont. (via McMaster Marauders) - The Toronto Varsity Blues and Queen’s Gaels advanced to the Forsyth Cup final after a pair of victories during their semi-final matches in Hamilton, Ont. at the Burridge Gym on Friday night.

The Blues came away with the four-set victory over the Guelph Gryphons (25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23) in what was a battle through and through.

Second-year left side Chris Towe carried the way for the winning side, going for 18 kills on 38 total attacks hitting an efficient .368 in the win. His side struggled to find separation all night, and at one point overcame a three-point deficit early with the Gryphons up 12-9.

A kill from Towe, as well as a service ace brought the two sides level, as they exchanged points for much of the the first set.

With score deadlocked at 23 apiece, Toronto’s Evan Falardeau and Benedikt Licht iced it with a kill and service ace, respectively.

The Blues went on to open the second on a 4-0 run, off back-to-back Jordan Figueira service aces prompting a Guelph timeout. But the Gryphons struggled to solve their opponents for much of the set, even with Jonathan Pickett going for three straight kills to keep his side in it.

With the game presumably in hand, the Varsity Blues became their worst enemy giving away seven points on service errors in the third, allowing the Gryphons to extend the game to four.

The set win brought the losing side back to life, as they opened the fourth on a 9-3 run. Four straight Figueira serves each led to a Gryphon attack error allowing the Blues to close the gap.

The full stop on the game was brought by two more Falardeau kills, followed by a service error, giving the Blues a berth to the U SPORTS Championship, and the opportunity to lift their first Forsyth Cup since 2004.

Blues setter Figueira, and Gryphons left side Jonathan Pickett were named Players of the Game.

The Queen’s Gaels surprised the home side McMaster Marauders, taking a narrow 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 25-18, 24-26, 15-13) win in the second match of the day.

Heading to the fifth set, very little could separate the two sides. With Gaels fans attempting to rival the deafening noise that came from the massive Maroon following, the wind looked to be in the Marauders favor.

Going up 9-7 off a Wojtek Kraj kill, victory looked in sight, but the defending champion Gaels proved their worth. Responding swiftly out of a timeout, the Gaels rebuttled on a 3-1 run to tie the game and found themselves points away from the win after a pair of Marauder errors.

With the score set at 13-12 for the Gaels, Erik Siksna got back what he gave up, bouncing back from an attack error with a massive kill off a Zane Grossinger assist. A point away, OUA East Most Valuable Player Zac Hutcheson clinched the win with a rebounded attack that settled the game.

The story of the final set was no exception, as the back-and-forth carried throughout the match. Early on in the match, OUA All-Rookie team member Wojtek Kraj shone bright, bringing the Marauders into the technical timeout off a massive kill to make the score 16-14.

Finding themselves with some room to breathe, the Marauders picked up a pair of kills from Craig Ireland and Nathan Delguidice, forcing the visitors to call a timeout at 18-15. The break brought some rhythm for the Gaels, as the Marauders dropped five straight points.

Cool and collected with the score at 23-21, the Gaels let their lead slip in due part to a quartet of attack errors, three from OUA East Rookie of the Year Erik Siksna, giving the Maroon the first set.

Despite leading as much as 9-5 in the second set, the Marauders struggled, committing seven errors in the set compared to the Gaels one.

After leading as much as 15-13, the Gaels went on to score seven straight points leading to a McMaster time out. Much didn’t change however, as the visitors outscored the Maroon 6-2 to close out the set.

The script in the third was much of the same as the Marauders pace on errors continued to plague them. Fourth-year setter David Doty showed his worth dishing eight of his game-high 53 assists, as well as four digs in the set. But the Gaels however, continued to capitalize on the home team’s mistakes, going into the technical timeout up 16-8 on route to the set win.

With the gold-medal game on the line, the Marauders pulled out all the stops in the fourth, going for 16 kills as a unit. The squad reeled in the Gaels who got out to a 15-11 lead, picking up five straight points, as well as the set off a kill from Sam Cooper, followed by a Queen’s error.

Queen’s outside hitter Zac Hutecheson, as well as McMaster’s first-year middle Kraj were named players of the game.

With the win, the Gaels secured a berth to the U SPORTS Championship, and.are one win away from repeating as Forsyth Cup winners.

The host Marauders will battle for bronze with much on the line, as the third-place team receives the third, and final, national berth.

McMaster takes on Guelph at 5:30pm, while Toronto faces off against Queen’s in the gold-medal game at 8pm.