HAMILTON, ON - The University of Guelph women's volleyball team fell in straight sets to the host Marauders at the McMaster Thanksgiving Pre-season Classic on Saturday afternoon. Set scores were 25-15, 25-21 & 25-22.

The first set was tight early on as McMaster carried a slim 16-14 advantage into the technical timeout. The Marauders found another gear to their play late as they outscored the Gryphons 9-1 down the stretch to win 25-15. In set 2, Guelph took an early 8-3 lead but couldn't sustain it and led by a single point at the technical timeout. An 8-3 McMaster run after the break was all they would need to take the second set 25-21. The Gryphons again led 8-5 early in the third set but an 11-3 run had the Marauders ahead 16-11 at the timeout. Down 23-18, Guelph kept fighting and a 4-0 run narrowed the lead to 23-22, but they got no closer falling 25-22.

Gryphons head coach Paul Funk said, "McMaster had another level to their game after 16 points that we were not able to match and that was the difference in all 3 sets today. We have a lot of work to do before we meet them in our season opener in 3 weeks."

Gryphons libero Kayla McMullen and middle blocker Jessica Gormley were both named tournament all-stars for their fine play this weekend. Guelph has a weekend off before wrapping up their pre-season schedule with a couple of matches in St. John's, Newfoundland on Oct 21 & 22.