Hamilton, ON - The University of Guelph Women's Volleyball team dropped a hard fought 3-0 decision in the Championship Match of the McMaster Thanksgiving Classic preseason tournament on Saturday afternoon. Set scores were 28-30, 30-32 & 21-25. The Gryphons had their chances in the first two sets as they led early in each. But both times, McMaster, led by tournament MVP Joanna Jedrzejewska, managed to turn the tables on Guelph to come away with victories.

The third set was also close through the technical timeout, but the Marauders were just a little bit better down the stretch to close out the match at 25-21. Coach Funk said, "We were aggressive with serve early on in the first 2 sets and built leads, but our lack of aggressiveness near the end cost us the win each time. I was pleased with large portions of each set today but we have to be tougher mentally down the stretch when we play them again."

Becky Breau (8 kills, 1 ace) and Jessica Gormley (8 kills, 1 ace) led the Gryphon offense with 9 points each followed by Victoria Golebiowski (7 kills, 1 ace) and Maddie DeDecker (5 kills, 3 aces) with 8 each. Kristen Almhjell led the defense with 20 digs. Congratulations are also in order to middle blocker Jessica Gormley and setter Cayte Wilson on being voted as tournament All-Stars. Guelph's regular season opens on October 23 at 6pm when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues.