GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team dropped a close match 3-1 to the York Lions tonight (Jan 18) in regular season action.  The loss drops the Gryphons to 3-9 and bolsters the Lions to an even 6-6.  The set scores were 25-22, 25-13, 20-25, 25-18.
 
Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) led the Gryphons with 18 points on the night including 16 kills and two aces followed up by Tim Warnholtz (Guelph, Ont.) with 14 points (13 kills, 1 ace).
 
The Gryphon offence got off to a strong start following a fierce attack from Kyle Richards (London, Ont).  Early contributions from Winston Rosser and rookie Timothy Warnholtz helped the Gryphons jump to an early 7-0 lead.  However, the Lions were able to shutdown the Gryphons' offence productivity with strong digs up the middle to cut the Gryphons' lead to two.  But York's presence at the net was unable to hold Warnholtz back as he smashed three kills through the Lions blockers to hold onto the Gryphon lead. 
 
The York attackers remained persistent throughout the middle stages of the set and were able to push through with the help of Ray Szeto (Sutton, Ont) and Gregory Ivan (Toronto, Ont) to take their first lead at 16-15.  And, despite the momentum in the opening stages of the night, the Gryphons were unable to regain the lead as the Lions stole the first 25-22.
 
The Lions carried the tempo into the second as they established an early 9-2 lead.  Felipe Humana-Parede (Toronto, Ont) and Daniel Dearing's (Toronto, Ont) presence at the net was instrumental in thwarting the Gryphon offence to stretch the lead to nine as both teams headed into the technical time-out with York on top 16-7.  While Winston Rosser and rookie Luke Woud (Uxbridge, Ont) maintained a ferocious presence at the net, they were unable to keep the Lions' offence in check as the second wound down 25-13.
 
As the third set got under way, the Gryphons began to reestablish a cohesive attack in an effort to keep the Lions offence at bay.  However, the Lions were determined to close the game in three and forced the Gryphons to climb a 3-point deficit to tie the game up at nine.  The combined rookie forces of Jordan MacIntyre's (Campbellville, Ont) defensive efforts from the back and Warnholtz's attack at the net, the Gryphons were able to stretch ahead 25-20 after swapping points throughout to send the game to four.  Warnholtz was able to rack up six kills in the third to keep the Gryphons' night alive.
 
After letting the Lions mount an early 5-1 lead in the fourth, the Gryphons brought the game to two under the guiding service of Winston Rosser who was able to hit one of two service aces on the night.  However, the Lions were determined to spoil the Gryphon comeback as they jumped ahead 16-9.  The Gryphons were able to piece together an offensive front in response, but Ray Szeto reignited the Lions momentum to break out for a 25-18 win in the fourth to take a 3-1 victory to end the night.
 
The Gryphons look to complete their weekend double-header on a good note as they host the McMaster Marauders tomorrow (Jan. 19) at the W.F. Mitchell Centre.  The game is scheduled for 8:00 pm.