GUELPH, Ont. – Five in a row. The Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team kept the mantle of the hottest squad in the OUA, extending its win streak in a marathon five-setter over the Brock Badgers (25-22, 25-27, 25-14, 21-25, and 15-8) at the GGAC Thursday night.
Guelph improved to 8-4 and sit third in the OUA West standings. The team has not lost a match since falling to the Varsity Blues in Toronto back on January 12.
Second-year Gryphon
Zarko Ubiparip was dominant, leading the team with 18 kills.
Zach Newman added 15 kills, an ace and 9 digs, while setter
Gideon Dresser had a match-high 47 assists. Guelph got some clutch serving from
Matt Baxter, who paced all players with 5 aces, including some big ones in the fifth set.
The hosts hoped to close out the match heading into the fourth set up 2-1. Brock would take a 20-18 lead and first-year Gryphon middle
Nazyr Francis would tie it twice with powerful kills at 20-20 and 21-21. But the Badgers regained the edge and Alex Carter sent it to a fifth set with a kill for a 24-21 lead before finishing it himself with an ace.
The Gryphons kept the energy level high in the fifth despite the setback. They came out aggressive and looked on their way when Baxter came up with two straight aces on blistering serves for a 12-7 lead. A clutch bock from Newman and
Jakson Paterson (12 kills and 2 blocks) got it to match point and Guelph closed it out soon after when Ubiparip registered his 18th kill of the night.
Guelph had an excellent first set, racking up 12 kills and hitting a robust .320. The hosts never trailed and built on a Brock service error to get to 15-14. The hosts closed well end went up 1-0 when Newman came up with a thunderous kill from the right side that deflected off a defender's hands.
The Gryphons' strong hitting continued in the second and all looked well when Ubiparip rose high to smash a ball down the middle for a 16-14 Guelph lead. The teams battled the rest of the set and at 23-23, Brock came up with a fantastic dig and got some good fortune when a desperation kill clipped the net and fell in for a point. The Badgers finished it off 27-25 moments later.
Guelph cruised in the third, jumping out to a big 16-7 lead at the technical time out and then winning the last four points of the set, which included two Baxter kills and an Ubiparip ace to end it.
The hosts hits .287 on the night and cleaned up their errors late, committing just 5 total in the last two sets after making 20 in the first three.
Gryphon Take
"Brock is a very good team. They have taken some teams with winning records to five and they beat us here the last two years so it was a good night. They did score a lot on us. Logan House was a monster for them but we handled their best push. Jak Paterson was a beast again and Matt Baxter served unbelievably. I told the guys in the room, if we have an MVP tonight, it's Matt. He is just lighting people up with his serve. We've faced a lot of adversity this season. It's a whole different lineup given that we've gone through three middles and are using backup guys. It's crazy to think of where we've come from. I love this team. They're such a great group of kids."
~ Gryphon head coach Cal Wigston
The Record
Guelph is 8-4
Next up
@ Ryerson, Saturday, Feb. 9, 8 pm
