GUELPH, Ont. – The Gryphons women's volleyball team dropped a pair of home matchups this past weekend (Jan. 17 & 18) as they played host to the No. 3-ranked team in the country in the Queen's Gaels. The Gryphons put forth one of their best efforts of the season on Friday night (Jan. 17), taking the Gaels to five sets before ultimately falling just short. The Gaels would win in straight sets the following day (Saturday, Jan. 18) to complete the sweep of the doubleheader. Following the two losses, the Gryphons record on the season drops to 2-12, while the No. 3-ranked Queen's Gaels improve to 13-1 on the season (tied for 1st in OUA standings alongside Western).
Game 1 | Friday, Jan. 17, 2025 (Queen's 3, Guelph 2)
A memorable, five-set thriller between the Gaels and Gryphons on Friday night started off with a marathon 1st set, which Guelph ultimately came out on top of, 32-30. The Gryphons would go on to take the 3rd set as well (25-22), to take a 2-sets-to-1 lead in the match. In the 4th set, the Gryphons would put themselves in great position to pull off the upset of the No. 3-ranked team in the country, with Guelph jumping out to early leads of 12-6 and later 17-12. But the Gaels were able to close out the 4th set in impressive fashion, turning a 14-19 deficit into a 25-22, 4th set win. Queen's would take the 5th set, 15-10, to improve to 12-1 on the season. The Gryphons had several standout performances during Friday's 5-set-loss, with
Jordan Vang (14.5 points),
Alexa Shields (42 assists) and
Sloane Fortin (12.5 points) all contributing to a strong performance for the hosts. Gryphons first-year middle blocker, Brooke Prezcator, also made a big impact, contributing both offensively (7 kills) and defensively (1 solo block, 5 block assists) at the net.
Game 2 | Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 (Queen's 3, Guelph 0)
Less than 24-hours after their 5-set marathon on Friday night, the Gryphons and the No. 3-ranked Gaels would return to the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre court for a 4pm start on Saturday (Jan. 18). This time, it was the Gaels winning in straight sets. The Gryphons showed tremendous fight until the end, with the hard-fought 3rd set ultimately going to the Gaels by a score of 31-29.
Briar Crerar led the Gryphons in kills (8) and digs (10) in the loss.
The Gryphons (2-12) have six games remaining in their 2024-25 OUA regular season schedule, with the next four coming on the road.
The Gryphons will travel to Toronto for a back-to-back road games versus the TMU Bold (3-9) on Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The Gryphons will then return to the provincial capital again the following weekend (Jan. 31 / Feb. 1) for a pair of road matchups with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (5-7), before returning to the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre to close out the regular season on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 when they host the Western Mustangs (13-1).
