ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – The momentum continues to build for the Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team as they approach the stretch run of the 2025-26 regular season. The Gryphons pushed their overall win streak to five games thanks to a pair of road wins over the Brock Badgers on Friday (Feb. 6) and Saturday (Feb. 7) in St. Catharines. With those two road wins over Brock, the Gryphons overall record on the season improves to 12-6, which has Guelph sitting in
5th-place (out of 13 teams) in the OUA men's volleyball standings, with top 8 teams in the conference qualifying for the OUA playoffs. Just two games now remain in Guelph's 20-game regular season schedule, with the Gryphons set to return home next weekend to host the Waterloo Warriors (8-10) on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14 at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre. The Warriors will be fighting for their playoff lives, as Waterloo currently holds the 8th and final playoff spot in the OUA standings. The Gryphons (12-6) will enter next weekend's action with hopes of still being able to earn home-court advantage in the opening round of OUA playoffs, as the 5th-place Gryphons remain right on the heels of the 4th-place Western Mustangs. Western (12-5) will play on Sunday at York (11-8), with the Mustangs then set to close out their regular season with a pair of tough road games against the 17-1, OUA-leading University of Toronto Varsity Blues on February 13 and 14. The OUA men's volleyball playoffs will get underway on Friday, February 20 with the OUA quarterfinal round.
Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 6 at Brock | Gryphons Pick Up Hard-Fought, Four-Set Road Win at Brock
On Friday night (Feb. 6), the Gryphons got their weekend off to a winning start thanks to a hard-fought, four-set (25-15, 25-18, 23-25 & 26-24) victory over the Brock Badgers in St. Catharines. The Gryphons got off to a dominant start, with convincing wins in both the 1st set (25-15) and 2nd set (25-18). There was little to separate the two sides over the course of the final two sets, but it would be Guelph sealing the road win with the 26-24 edge in the 4th set to take the match, 3-1. The reigning OUA Athlete of the Week,
Killian Donovan, helped lead the way with 17 points (14 kills), while
Liam Kinahan (12 points, 11 kills),
Tian Harcevic (39 assists) and
Braeden Sears (12 points, 9 kills) all chipped into the Friday night road win. With the victory, Guelph improved to 11-6, while Brock dropped to 6-11.
Game 2 – Saturday, Feb. 7 at Brock | Gryphons Win in Straight Sets in Saturday Night Matchup in St. Catharines
Saturday night (Feb. 7), the Gryphons and Badgers were back at it at Bob Davis Gymnasium, with the Gryphons this time winning in convincing straight sets, 25-21, 25-16 & 25-15.
Killian Donovan's team-high 15.5 points (15 kills) came on an impressive .423 kill %.
Matthew McCarthy (3 blocks),
Liam Kinahan (10 points, 2 blocks, 7 kills) and
Finn Hughes (2 blocks) all made their impact felt at the net, as the Gryphons completed the weekend road sweep to push their overall record to 12-6, while the Badgers playoff hopes took a major hit as they fell to 6-12.
Tickets for the Gryphons final two regular season games (Feb. 13 & 14 vs Waterloo) are
available online at www.gryphons.ca/tickets, with both games also broadcast live online at www.oua.tv.
