KINGSTON, Ont. - In their first game of 2013 the Guelph Gryphon men's volleyball team dropped a tough 3-0 game to the Queens Gaels in Kingston, Ont.  Set scores were 26-24, 25-10 and 25-19.  The Gryphons drop to 2-8 on the season while the Gaels improve to 7-3.
 
The match opened on a rather lackluster note, with three errors. Queen's saw their first offensive productivity from Philippe Goyer (Ottawa) who stifled a Gryphon's attack with a block up the middle. Queen's and Guelph proceeded to exchange points until the Gaels were able to pull ahead in the final points of the set.
 
Although Guelph was able to keep the first set close they could not find an answer for the Gaels strong offensive production in the second set. Guelph opened the set with a service error, which gave Queen's some momentum out of the gate. The Gaels were all over the court in the second, and Jackson Dakin (Courtenay, B.C.) illustrated this in one particular rally where he recorded three different digs—eventually setting up offside-hitter Michael Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.) for a commanding kill, which capped a 11-4 Gaels run. Tomlinson recorded two more kills in the second set to close-out a lop-sided set victory, 25-10.
 
In the third set it was the Gryphons getting on the board first with a Gaels service error. Guelph continued to make a push, with right-side hitter Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) and left-side hitter Timothy Warnholtz (Guelph, Ont.) combining for five of the Gryphons 19 points in the third. For the Gaels it was second-year offside-hitter Aaron Nusbaum (Aurora, Ont.)  who was noteworthy in the set, accounting for three of the tricolour's points after the technical timeout. Tomlinson was also pivotal upfront recording two blocks late to close things out for the Gaels, who won the set 25-19—cruising to their first straight set victory of 2013.
 
The Gryphons were led by Rosser with 10 points including eight kills. Marc Wilson and Warnholtz chipped in with six kills apiece.
 
The Gryphons will now play RCM tomorrow (Jan. 13) at 2:00 p.m. The team will be back in Guelph this weekend for a pair of games against York (Jan. 18) and McMaster (Jan. 19).
 
- With files from Queens -