In a battle of nationally ranked teams, the No. 6 University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep of the No. 8 Queen's Gaels on Friday (Feb. 6) night inside Goldring Centre – Kimel Family Field House.

Set scores in the match were 27-25, 25-23, 25-21.

After an exciting first period, where the Blues were forced into extra points to claim the set win, Toronto took control of the match through the next two frames utilizing a powerful offensive attack. U of T saw big swings from all angles on the court as the home side delivered dynamism from the middle, both sides, and the back row. The Blues finished the three set match scoring over 10 more kills than their opponent, while doing so with an impressive .292 hitting percentage.

Leading the way once again for Toronto was the outside duo of Hunter Arulpragasam and Maxime Gratton. A fifth-year Varsity Blue, Arulpragasam tallied a game-high 16 points from 15 kills and one service ace. The human biology major recently surpassed the 1000 career point mark, becoming just the fourth Varsity Blue to reach the four-digit milestone. Meanwhile, Gratton added 12 kills, one block assist and a game-high three aces, moving into second in the OUA in aces per set this season. The complete team effort also saw Iannis Toma chip in with 11 points, while Jack Li and Luka Minic added 5.5 and 4.5 from the middle, respectively.

Guiding the Blues efficient attack was fourth-year setter Michael Hickey as he tallied 39 total assists. Arulpragasam led the defensive effort as well with 12 digs, along with nine from fifth-year libero Rylan Armstrong.

For Queen's, Nikola Mitrovic registered a team-high 11 points with nine kills, one ace and one solo block. Alex Brdarevic was also a standout at the net with three solo blocks to go along with three kills.

The Blues and Gaels will do battle again tomorrow (Feb. 7) afternoon inside Goldring Centre. First serve is set for 3:30 p.m. Tickets for the game can be purchased at varsityblues.ca/tickets, while all Varsity Blues volleyball homes are streamed live and on-demand at oua.tv.