Gryphon volleyball men drop home opener to McMaster
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons opened the home portion of their OUA men’s volleyball season Friday with a 3-1 loss to the McMaster Marauders at the Guelph Gryphons Athletic Centre.
McMaster prevailed 25-12, 28-30, 25-20, 25-23.
McMaster 3 Guelph Gryphons 1
The Marauders didn’t commit an error in the opening game and an early four-point run put the visitors ahead for good. They had a five-point run later in the game and closed it out with the game’s final three points.
The second game was a see-saw affair, the Gryphs getting the lead for the first time in the game with two consecutive points that put them ahead 6-5. A four-point run later in the match gave them a bit of breathing space until McMaster scored four in a row to close the gap. The Marauders scored four of five points to shoot ahead 26-25, but the Gryphs responded with two in a row to regain the lead and they eventually won with another pair, the final point coming on an attack error by McMaster.
The Gryphs had a 19-18 lead in the third game, but the Marauders ran off five consecutive points to take control.
The final game saw McMaster rally from a 17-12 deficit for the victory.
The Gryphs had 41 kills, 25 errors, three aces, eight blocks and 33 digs in the match while McMaster had 56 kills, 18 errors, four aces, seven blocks and 40 digs.
Jonathan Pickett had 14 kills, two aces and eight digs for Guelph while Nicolas Gumienik had eight kills and three blocks and Arjun Selhi had seven kills, four assists and six digs. Jacob Bailey had an ace and three blocks while Noah Romero-Marshall had two blocks, Gideon Dresser had 18 assists, Jack Richards had 14 assists and Ben Kissack had nine digs.
For the Marauders, Sam Cooper had 16 kills, two blocks and six digs while Robbie Fujisawa had 49 assists and 10 digs and Mateusz Wlodarski had 14 kills and two aces. Max Gratton had 13 kills and a block, Jordan Pereira had an assist and nine digs, Navreet Suhan had two aces and Tyler Pavelic had six blocks.
McMaster leads the West Division at 2-0 while the Western Mustangs and Brock Badgers are both at 1-0, Waterloo Warriors are at 1-1 and the Gryphs and Windsor Lancers are both at 0-2.
Next up for the Gryphs is a match at Windsor against the Lancers Nov. 20 starting at 4 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal