GUELPH, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team officially returned to the court at the Gryphon Athletic Centre on Friday night (Jan. 6) when they played host to the Western Mustangs. The Gryphons and Mustangs both entered Friday's match with identical 6-3 records following the winter break, with the Gryphons last action coming on December 3rd in what was a 3-2 loss to the TMU Bold. The Gryphons defeated the Mustangs 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-19) to earn their 7th win of the 2022-23 season is hard-fought match. 

The match opened with the visiting Mustangs getting out to a 6-2 lead over the Gryphons. Despite the Gryphons trading several scoring runs with the visiting team they were unable to take the lead and ultimately fell in the first set 25-21. The start to the second set was much different for the Gryphons as they would jump out to a 4-1 lead. The remainder of the set would prove that these teams are evenly matched as they would play another tightly contested period. The Gryphons and Mustangs would trade points right until the end of the set with the Gryphons edging out the Mustangs 25-23 thanks to a Western serving error followed by a Noah Romero-Marshall. 

The third set saw the Gryphons get off to their best start yet of the match. After Building a 4-point lead over the Mustangs the Gryphons would hold the lead until late in the set when the Mustangs would start to find some momentum. After Western came to within one point of the Gryphons the home team would take control for the remaining few points and take the set 25-21 to take the set advantage heading the fourth set. The fourth set saw the Gryphons play their most complete set. After a close beginning to the set the Gryphons would slowly chip away at the Mustangs ultimately finding a 5-point lead and holdig on until they would close out the set by a score of 25-19. 

The Gryphons had many significant performances on Friday night. With the absence of outside hitter Cameron Chadwick, who had been one of the Gryphons most productive hitters in the first half of the season, Guelph looked to other players to take a larger role in the attack. The Gryphons were led by standout hitter Jonathan Pickett, who added another impressive game to his career. Pickett finished the game with 17 total kills, accountinf for 19 of the Gryphons 64 points. Also having a big game was 4th-year veteran and left side hitter Arjun Selhi. Selhi had his best game of the season with 14 kills and 15 points Friday night. Rounding out the Gryphon with double-digit nights is Jacob Schweyer. The 6-foot-7 Sudbury, Ontario native had 11 points which included 8 kills and 3 huge blocks that helped shift the momentum. Finally, Jack Richards once again led the team is kill assists, adding 42 to his impressive season. 

The Gryphons will look to open 2023 with back-to-back wins when they head to Toronto tomorrow (Jan. 7) to take on the Varsity Blues. The match is set to start at 8pm and can be seen live online at www.oua.tv.