GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons took the court at the Gryphon Athletic Centre on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 4) looking to keep their playoff hopes alive against the York Lions. The U of G women came into Saturday's match looking to avoid another straight set loss after falling 3-0 to the U of T Varsity Blues the night before in Toronto. Despite an impressive comeback attempt in the third set by the Gryphons, the Lions would leave Guelph with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23) victory.
 
With the playoffs in sight, it was evident from the opening serve that both teams would fight for the win, exchanging scores for much of the set. With the Gryphons coming into the match 12^th in the OUA standings a win would go a long way in starting their playoff push. On the opposite side of the court, the Lions were looking to tighten their grip on the final spot in the playoffs as the 8^th team in the OUA. After reaching a 14-14 tie in the opening set the Lions would take over, going on an 11-4 run to take the first set 25-18.
 
The second set saw the Gryphons off to a slow start, quickly finding themselves down 5-1. The U of G women's volleyball team would call a timeout hoping to slow the York momentum. The Lions would come out of the timeout with their control of the set still intact, extending their lead by a couple points. Despite some Guelph scoring runs the early York lead would prove too much to overcome and the Lions would take the second set 25-14. The final set saw the visiting Lions get off to their best start, quickly jumping out to a 10-point lead. The Gryphons would battle back looking to avoid another straight set loss and make it a 23-22 game late in the set. Unable to close the set out, the Lions took the set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
 
The Gryphon effort was led by rookie right-side hitter Hailey Holland. The Burlington native finished the match with 11 kills and a service ace for 11 points. Just behind Holland was middle blocker Samantha Ingleton. The human kinetics major produced 7 kills of her own and was tied for a team-high 2 blocks. Leading the assist category was 4^th-year setter Ella Carter who totaled 18 kill assists.
 
The Gryphons (3-13) will look to finish the season strong with just four matches remaining in the 2022-23 season. The Gryphons will head to Thunder Bay for back-to-back games against the Lakehead Thunderwolves next weekend (Feb. 10 & 11) before returning home for two matches against the RMC Paladins to close out the season the following weekend (Feb. 17 & 18).