Huskies claw back, drop Gaels in four
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/03/2025 (208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Saskatchewan Huskies saved their season after trailing 2-0, so going down one set was nothing.
The Canada West bronze medallists bounced back and upset the Ontario University Athletics champion Queen’s Gaels 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 29-27, 25-23) in their U Sports men’s volleyball championship quarterfinal at the Healthy Living Centre on Friday night.
“That’s what we’ve been doing all year, man,” said right side Emmett Graham. “We always lose the first set then we just come back and play Dog volleyball.”
Isaiah Mamer of the Saskatchewan Huskies attacks against the Queen’s Gaels during the fourth U Sports men’s volleyball quarterfinal on Friday night. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
The Huskies face the Brandon University Bobcats, who upset the top-ranked Winnipeg Wesmen 3-0 earlier in the evening, in the semifinals today at 6 p.m.
The first set was back and forth to 14-14, never more than two points separating the teams.
But the Gaels took advantage of a flurry of Huskie errors to take six of the next eight points.
Saskatchewan clawed back within one at 21-20 but missed a serve and erred its way to a 1-0 deficit.
The Huskies completely cleaned themselves up in the second set leading 18-10 before their first attacking error. Queen’s fed all-stars Reed Venning and Zig Licis in an attempt to steal the set but Saskatchewan was too sharp on its first touch, feeding middle blockers Jacob Baird and Lucas Musschoot for key kills down the stretch to tie the match 1-1.
Isaiah Mamer served the Huskies ahead in the third, scoring from the back row to cap his three-point run up 13-10.
The teams traded points before setter Noah Opseth served an ace to go up 20-16.
The Gaels roared back as Licis laced one spin serve after the next, allowing his team’s defence and setter Chris Zimmerman to work. He fed Nikola Mitrovic and Venning on the outside on a huge five-point run to pull ahead.
They went to extra points and the teams saved their best for the biggest moments, fearlessly blasting away against big blocks.
Both sides had chances to seal it before a Licis service error brought up the set point Saskatchewan needed. Graham and Baird canned Mitrovic to take a 2-1 lead entering the only fourth set of the day.
No one broke the deadlock in the fourth until 21-21. After a pair of spectacular kills by the first-team all-Canadian Graham to keep pace, the Huskies took advantage of a Venning miscue with a Mamer ace to lead by two for the first time all set.
Graham added another to bring up two match points, and on the second, blasted the ball cross-court for his match-high 17th kill.
“I felt pretty good. My setter Noah put me in a good spot and I just had to hit the ball,” Graham said.
“It’s the team. We’ve got a great passing unit, I get one-on-ones, Noah puts me in a great spot, I do the easy part.”
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5