GUELPH, Ont. - Although they were able to get themselves off to a fast start, the Guelph Gryphons just didn't quite have the answer the rest of the way Saturday afternoon at the GGAC. After taking the opening set against the No. 10-nationally ranked Western Mustangs, the Gryphons continued to battle but did not see the same results in a four set defeat (25-18, 20-25, 15-25, 16-25).
In the opening set the Gryphons came out on fire. Winning 11 of the first 15 points, Guelph quickly built themselves an 11-4 advantage over the 10th best team in the country. Throughout the remainder of the 1st set Guelph continued to keep their foot on the pedal leading to a 25-18 win, and a 1-0 set advantage.
In the 2nd set, the script was flipped. Instead of the Gryphons taking an early lead it was the Mustangs getting off to the fast start. After jumping ahead 5-2, Western gradually built their lead throughout the set. However, despite trailing 19-13 late in the 2nd, the Gryphons did their best to battle back. Guelph managed to get back within four points, but it was not quite enough as they dropped the set 25-20.
With both teams having a set under their belts, the match began to tighten up about as much as it could. Leading up to the technical time-out of the 3rd set, neither team was able to build a lead bigger than three points. Once Western took a 14-11 advantage, Guelph instantly came back with three points of their own to tie the score 14-14. The Mustangs would however go on to score the next two points as the teams hit the technical time-out. Unfortunately for the home side, coming out of the break the Mustangs began to take control. Using tremendous defence to dig up the Gryphon's attacks, Western went on to take the set 25-15.
Down 2-1 in sets and needing to win the 4th to force a deciding set, the Gryphons again found themselves in a battle as the set got underway. Just like the set previous, both teams went back and forth with each other. In the exact same fashion, neither side was able to generate a lead bigger than two points heading into the technical time-out. That was until the Mustangs secured their 16th point of the set to go up 16-13 at the time-out. As the set continued, Western was able to go on a run to close out the match with a 25-16 victory in the 4th.
"We executed and were able to side-out very well up until the technical time-outs," said Gryphon's head coach Paul Funk. "After those technical time-outs though, Western's defence seemed to be able to take over and frustrate us."
"I told the girls at one point that we were having to use all of the tricks in the bag because they were playing very good defence."
Jessica Chung led the Gryphons with 13Â points, with nine of those points coming in the form of kills. Ally Proulx led the team in kills with 11. Lisa Wedel also finished the game in double-figures in points with 10, nine of which were kills.
Sitting at .500 on the season, the Gryphons will look to improve their record to 4-3 on Saturday when they head to St. Catharines for their first of two regular season meetings with the Brock Badgers. Game time is scheduled for 6:00pm.
