GUELPH, Ont. – On Friday night (Oct. 24), the Guelph Gryphons women's volleyball team officially gets their 2025-26 season underway when they head on the road to London to take on the Western Mustangs. The OUA women's volleyball regular season format remains intact from last season as 15 teams in one division will play 20 matches with the top 8 teams in the OUA standings qualifying for the postseason. The playoff format remains unchanged as the quarterfinals and semifinals are a single elimination game before it wraps up the Quigley Cup championship game on March 6, 2026. The Gryphons will look to return to the postseason after missing out a season ago.
The Gryphons see plenty of returning players to the squad this season which includes outside hitter
Sloane Fortin. Fortin, a second-year psychology major, had a fantastic rookie campaign where she finished with 139 kills on the season and had a season-high 18 kills on January 11 against Nipissing as she earned a spot on the OUA All-Rookie Team.
Jordan Vang is also back for her second season with the team. The Kitchener native finished with 154 kills a season ago as she enters her final season at U of G. A trio of fourth-year outside hitters return as
Briar Crerar,
Maia Dan and
Sophia Kalbfleisch are all expected to make key contributions to the team. Crerar, a 2023-24 OUA All-Star, led the team last season with 174 kills, 193 digs and scoring a team-high 205 points.
Maia Dan returns as one of the team captains this season, while
Sophia Kalbfleisch finished last season with 36 kills. Ainsley Prezcator is back and healthy for her second year as a Gryphon and is poised to make a big impact in 2025-26 at outside hitter. The applied human nutrition major impressed in her 6 games last season, racking up 26 kills and 41 digs.
Third-year middle blocker Lexi Nicholson-Clarke returns following a breakout second season. The Ajax, ON native came on last season with 125 kills and led the Gryphs with 48 total blocks.
Nikina Bear-Lowen brings experience to the Gryphons front row as she finished last season with 47 kills and 15 blocks. 6-foot-3 Brooke Prezcator is an up and coming second-year middle blocker who had 51 kills and 32 total blocks, including a season-high 6 block effort against Queen's (Jan. 17).
Payton King is back at libero for the Gryphs after helping lead one of the top defensive units in the province last season. The psychology major finished with 159 digs and 25 assists last season and had a season best 13 digs against RMC (Nov. 22). Calgary native Veronica Hmelinski heads into her second year as a Gryphon and will see action as the backup libero.
Sophie Sommerfeldt takes over as the starting setter for the team this season. The human kinetics major and team captain was fantastic in her 11 matches last season, finishing with 270 assists, including a season best 46 assist performance on January 10 against Nipissing.
Maya Slavcev is an incoming rookie from Kitchener as the team's backup setter.
Following the season opening doubleheader on Friday and Saturday against Western, the Gryphons will return to the GGAC court on November 7 when they host the Trent Excalibur in their 2025-26 home opener. The Gryphons season opener along with all their regular season games will be available live online at www.oua.tv. Tickets for all of the Gryphons home game are available at gryphons.ca/tickets.
