Queen’s Men’s Volleyball Beat Brock Badgers to Continue Hot Streak

By Ian Donaldson

The Queen’s Men’s Volleyball team have had a red hot start to their OUA campaign. Their season
started back in early November with a short trip across the causeway to take on the RMC Paladins in a
two game series. The Paladins would prove to be no match for the Gaels, who took both games 3 sets to
0, meaning a series sweep without dropping a single set. Queen’s outscored RMC 153-109 across the
two games—a strong statement to start the season!

Queen’s would make their home debut the following weekend against the Trent Excalibur. The first
game saw Queen’s veteran outside hitter Erik Siksna show off his two-way ability, with a 9-dig defensive
masterclass in the first game and a season-high 19-kill second game as Queen’s would sweep the 2 game
series over Trent 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.

Queen’s would then return to the ARC this past weekend to face a Brock Badgers squad who also found
themselves 4-0 after two hard-fought sweeps of the York Lions and TMU Bold. The Saturday night
matchup to kick the series off saw Brock silence the Queen’s home fans early by taking the first set 25-
16. Luckily for the Queen’s home faithful, that would be all the wake-up the Gaels would require—
winning 3 consecutive sets to take a 3-1 victory.

This meant Queen’s were 5 wins without loss on the season heading into our feature game Sunday
afternoon. In an effort to not repeat the slow start seen in the weekend’s first game, Queens would take
the first point the start things off— but some early miscommunications from Queen’s in the first set
kept things close.

Queen’s 6 foot 8 middle blocker Dax Tompkins was playing to the crowd early, and it would be his lazer
of a serve that would get the better of Brock and give Queen’s the first set 25-21. In the second set,
Queen’s presence at the net was making all the difference, with Erik Siksna, Izaak Zabjek and Dax
Tompkins all registering big time blocks for the Gaels.

Facing an 11-11 deadlock at one point in the second set, Queen’s would pull away and never look back,
as they would take the second set 25-18. A 2-0 set advantage for Queen’s meant they were only one set
away from another win and another series sweep! And despite a comeback attempt from Brock late in
the 3 rd set, Queen’s would not fold under pressure, taking the third and deciding set 25-21 and cruising
to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-21) victory over a very talented Brock Badgers outfit.

Of the standout performers for Queen’s, Erik Siksna was up to his usual last night, leading the way once
again for Queen’s with 13 kills and the game winning ace! Reed Venning and and Dax Tompkins also
deserve honourable mentions.

“The way we really work together as a group dictates how we play on the court” remarked Queen’s
setter and last season’s OUA Rookie of the Year Chris Zimmerman post-game on the team’s 6-0 start.
“We’re 100% dedicated to our team [..] and we have eachothers backs no matter what.”
Queen’s will have one more game before the winter break, going on the road to play the Windsor
Lancers on the 1 st and 2 nd of December. Queen’s Men’s Volleyball will make their return to the ARC for
regular season play on January 19 th when they take on the York Lions.