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.