GUELPH, ON – The RMC Paladins men's volleyball team came to Guelph looking for their first win of the season. The Gryphons sent them back to Kingston still looking.
 
Guelph knocked off RMC in straight sets on Saturday night at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre, winning 25-21, 25-19 & 25-18. The triumph snapped the Gryphs' five-match losing streak, giving the home team its first win since before Christmas.
 
"It was a great match by our guys," said head coach Cal Wigston. "We were playing a team with a losing record, but it was still important to come out and play well and win three straight.
 
"We're hoping to parlay this into something good. The last time we played RMC, we went on a three-game run, so we're hoping we can do the exact same thing."
 
That was in November. The Gryphs followed up that win over RMC with victories over York and Nipissing, going into the holiday break on a high note and with a competitive 4-6 record. But Guelph has struggled since returning to action, dropping five straight and winning only one set during that stretch.
 
Everything changed on Saturday. The match was close throughout, but the Gryphs only trailed once, and that was early in the first set. They regularly strung together little runs of two, three and four points to slowly take command against an outmatched RMC squad, which dropped its 17^th consecutive outing.
 
But Wigston said Guelph was determined to not take the Paladins lightly despite their record.
 
"They lost in five to a very good Waterloo team last night. They were amped up and they were thinking they had a good chance to grab one from Guelph. Our guys responded really well."
 
Wigston said his team has coped with the challenges presented not only by the losing streak but also by injuries to a number of key players. Captain Kyle Richards sat out after injuring his wrist on Friday night against Queen's. Zach Newman has a bad knee and may be done for the season. Kendrick Kerr played on an injured ankle on Saturday, making seven important kills.
 
"He's so dedicated, and wants to play so badly," Wigston said of Kerr, noting the second-year middle blocker from Georgetown, ON was on crutches earlier in the week. "We started the year with 18 (players), and we had 10 healthy bodies on Wednesday."
 
Second-year setter Samuel Kloke, from Whitby, ON, chalked up 40 assists and four digs for the Gryphs. Third-year left-side Josh Green, also from Georgetown, led all players with 15 kills and eight digs.
 
"Josh was a machine tonight. He was fantastic. He was hitting the ball hard and playing with confidence, which is something he's kind of been lacking for the last little while."
 
Wigston also cited the contributions of Dallas Keith on the left side and Kaj Wigston in the libero position. He said everyone on the team contributes to a positive team environment that allows the Gryphs to deal with adversity.
 
"We support each other no matter what happens," the coach said. "You win with dignity, you lose with dignity. Losing sucks. We get that, and we all hate it, however, we just want to make sure that we do our best, night in and night out.
 
"We have a saying. There's two things that we can control: our attitude and our effort. If we can have a phenomenal attitude and a phenomenal effort, we'll push teams every night."
 
The Gryphs will get the chance to do that again next weekend. They play twice, starting at home on Friday, Feb. 12 against the Ryerson Rams, then travelling to Toronto on Sunday, Feb. 14 to take on the Varsity Blues.
 
Game time against Ryerson is 8 p.m. at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre.