GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team saw their 2025-26 season officially come to an end on Friday night (Feb. 20) from the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre with an OUA quarterfinal loss to the Western Mustangs. The No. 4-seeded Gryphons took the opening set, but the No. 5-seeded Western Mustangs won the final three sets to advance to the OUA semifinals, with set scores of 25-23, 19-25, 10-25 & 21-25. It marked the first loss on home court all season for the Gryphons, who were a perfect 10-0 on their home floor during the regular season (14-6 overall record during the regular season). 
 
The opening set of Friday night's playoff game was back-and-forth between these two sides. With the score tied at 23-23, the biggest point of the set would come from Tian Harcevic as he hammered a kill into the back corner after a fantastic dig from Daniel Pickett to set up the opportunity for the second-year setter. Killian Donovan on set point would cap off the rally point as his kill sealed the 25-23 opening set win for the Gryphs, taking the final three points of the set. However, Western would jump out to early leads in the 2nd and 3rd sets and would not look back, taking a 2-sets-to-1 advantage in the match. The Gryphons battled back in the 4th set but just when it looked like they had grabbed momentum, the Mustangs came through with the key point to stay in the lead. With Western leading 21-19 and Guelph mounting a charge, the visitors came up with two huge digs leading to Cade Smith's kill as the Mustangs took the 4th set 25-21 to advance to the OUA semifinals.
 
The Mustangs defence played a major role in the match, coming through with a lot of timely digs and blocks to go along with their efficient attacking, finishing with 56 kills and only 14 errors in the match. Killian Donovan had an outstanding match in the losing effort, finishing with a game-high 17 kills. Liam Kinahan also had a great game for the Gryphons with 13 kills in the match.
 
With the win, the Western Mustangs advance to the OUA semifinals where they will play the top-seeded Windsor Lancers on Friday, Feb. 27.