March 9, 2018

Forsyth Cup: Hutcheson and Peckham power Gaels to OUA final

HAMILTON, Ont. - The Queen's Gaels outlasted the OUA East first-seed Ryerson Rams 3-2 in the Forsythe Cup OUA Final Four first semifinal. The Gaels took the first two sets but needed five to secure their spot for Gold and qualify for the U SPORTS national championship also hosted by McMaster next weekend. Set scores finished 25-20, 25-18, 17-25, 19-25, 15-9 in favour of Queen's.

GAME FLOW
Having swept the Rams in their last meeting in the regular season, the Gaels picked up right where they left off jumping out to a 13-7 lead thanks to an 11-4 run. The offence was powered by Zach Hutcheson (Kingston, Ont.) who put down three of the 11 for kills.

Hutcheson stayed hot for Queen's and totalled nine kills in the opening set to lead the Gaels to a 25-20 opening frame win.

Queen's kept their foot on the pedal in set two, jumping ahead 14-8 and 16-10 at the technical timeout after the Rams faltered with multiple errors in the set. Queen's picked up points on four of the first 16 off the hot hand of middle Jack Peckham (Hamilton) who led the Gaels in the second frame.

Service errors late by Ryerson put Queen's in a good spot and a Markus Trence (Hockley Valley, Ont.) kill sealed the frame for the Tricolour.

The top seed in the OUA East, Ryerson was finally able to find their groove in the third set and snap a run of five straight set losses to the Gaels that dated back to the regular season.

Adam Anagnostopoulos had a big block for the Rams then fine-tuned the offence the rest of the way as Ryerson finished on top in set three 25-17.

The Rams continued to give Queen's trouble into the fourth set taking an 11-7 lead. The Gaels picked up a big block at the net and were down just three, but errors from Queen's pushed Ryerson ahead 20-15.

Lucas Coleman led the Rams from there with four of the final five points needed to finish off the set and force a fifth.

With a chance for a banner on the line, the Gaels started strong in the fifth. Peckham finished off an easy kill from the middle to make it a 7-3 Gaels lead.

Two more kills from Hutcheson teamed with Rams errors led the Gaels to the set win 15-9 and a 3-2 match victory.