Winnipeg reverse sweeps Queen’s; will face Windsor in consolation final

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This article was published 22/03/2025 (208 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A-side, B-side, on the national stage or in an empty gymnasium, the Winnipeg Wesmen and Queen’s Gaels were going to bring all the fight they had.

In the end, the No. 1-seed Wesmen prevailed in the match of the tournament thus far, winning a marathon 3-2 (24-26, 23-25, 25-14, 27-25, 21-19) in the consolation semifinals of the U Sports men’s volleyball championship at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.

They were slated to face the fourth-ranked Gaels in the championship semifinals but both were upset Friday evening. Regardless, the Canada West and Ontario University Athletics champions put on a show.

“We lost the first game, that was rough for us, but it doesn’t mean the tournament’s done, right?” said outside hitter Jaxon Rose, who piled up 18 kills, seven errors and 11 digs.

“We battle every game, as shown in that game, 21-19 in the fifth set. We go, we’re going to keep going, whatever position it’s for, we’re going to keep going.”

Queen’s led the tiebreaker 4-1 and 6-4 before Winnipeg tied it up twice. Then no lead was more than one until the bitter end.
Rose and Isaiah Olfert, who had a match-high 23 kills, were damn near perfect down the stretch.

Rose scored to bring up the last match point when Dax Tompkins’ attack sailed just wide.

Winnipeg faces Windsor in the fifth-place match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We’re going to get them,” Rose said. “We’re ready.”

The Wesmen were sloppy early and the Gaels took advantage. A few hitting errors and a pair of Zig Licis kills put the OUA champs up 6-1 early.

Licis added an ace during an error-filled stretch as his team pulled ahead 12-4.

Winnipeg made a little push, scoring four of five points, but Queen’s kept hammering away to maintain what seemed like a healthy 18-10 cushion.
It wasn’t.

As he did a night before, Olfert rattled off a long serving run — this time eight points including four aces — to tie it up.

The teams traded points to 24-24, but Olfert tipped it wide on set point to put Queen’s up 1-0.

A few swings both ways saw a few Gaels leads, including a four-point edge, evaporate in the second set.

They were tied 17-17 and still knotted up at 21-21 before setter Chris Zimmerman found his big guns in crunch time.

Licis, Venning scored, Licis and Dax Tompkins stuffed Rose, and then Nikola Mitrovic beat the block for the set winner to go up 2-0.

Winnipeg snuck ahead 5-1 in the third and stayed up most of the way. After Luke Lodewyks took a red card for disagreeing with a call a little too much, the Wesmen scored four of the next five points to lead 17-11.

They stayed strong while Mitrovic made a pair of errors to extend the lead to double-digits before the Wesmen forced a fourth set.

Winnipeg led most of the fourth but let Licis serve four straight to put his side up 19-17. Lachlan McBride, who replaced Mitrovic late in the third, came up big down the stretch with a few kills to stay ahead. Then two Wesmen errors made it 23-19.

Seemingly down and out, Winnipeg fought back one more time. Tristan Arnold came off the bench and served a massive four-point run including two Easton Dick blocks to tie it.

In extra points, Winnipeg’s other middle blocker, captain Paxton Koop, rejected Tompkins to send it to the fifth.

“I can attribute that to practice,” Rose said. “We do a lot of drills where we’re at a disadvantage to begin with. We’ve got to score more points than the other team does and I think that’s good for that kind of situation.”

Windsor swept Western in the first consolation semifinal.

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