GUELPH, Ont. – Friday night at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre, the Gryphons men's volleyball team picked up a straight sets win over the visiting University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Set scores were 25-20, 25-21 & 25-20. With the win, the Gryphons improve to 6-8 on the season while U of T falls to 6-8. The Gryphs remain locked in a battle for the final playoff spot in the OUA West with three games remaining on the regular season schedule.
 
The Gryphons got off to a fast start Friday night, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set. The Gryphons would rack up 18 kills to just 4 errors in the opening set, which was punctuated by a Zach Newman cross-court kill to give the Gryphons a 25-20 first set. Newman had 8 kills in that opening set.
 
In the second set, Gryphon rookie Zarko Ubiparip would help spark the Gryphs late as the 6-foot-4 Kitchener native would come up with a pair of big blocks late to help the Gryphs take the final four points of the set en route to a 25-21 win.
 
The Gryphons were efficient in attack in the third set, racking up 10 kills to just 2 errors. Zach Newman led all U of G players in points (15 points, team-high 12 kills), while Joshua Green (10 digs) and Samuel Kloke (9 digs) helped lead the way defensively. Samuel Nothnagel finished with a team-high 3 blocks.
 
The Gryphons will be right back in action again on Saturday night when they host Trent in what will be their final home game of the regular season schedule.