Guelph, Ont. - The University of Guelph women's volleyball team had a successful home opener as they swept the Nipissing Lakers 3-0 at the W.F. Athletic Center on Friday evening. Set scores were 25-8, 27-25, & 25-7. The Gryphons got off to a great start in the first set as Jen Johnstone's (North Vancouver, BC) eight point serving run opened up a big lead that they never relinquished winning 25-8. Set two was a much different affair as Nipissing took an early 12-8 lead. Guelph battled back to lead 16-15 at the technical timeout but the Lakers would not back down reclaiming the lead at 21-18. The Gryphons were on the ropes late but they fought off three set points to eventually come back to win 27-25. The third set returned to the original script as numerous Nipissing errors allowed Guelph to win handily at 25-7.
 
Coach Funk said, "We wanted to come out strong tonight to try and dominate early which we did with some help from the opposition. The second set was more of what we were expecting from Nipissing and we were fortunate to win after being down late. Tomorrow's match against York will require us to be more consistent in our execution but we're looking forward to the challenge."
 
The Gryphon offense was led by Madison Dedecker (Dorchester, Ont.) with 15 points (12 kills, 3 aces) followed by Rebecca Breau (London, Ont.) with 10 (10 kills) while Kristen Almhjell (Richmond, B.C.) led the defense with 14 digs.

Guelph is right back at it tomorrow night when they host the York Lions at 6pm.