GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team is off to a perfect start to the new season thanks to a pair of impressive straight-sets victories on opening weekend of the 2019-20 OUA regular season.
On Saturday night (Oct. 26), the Gryphons officially opened up the new season with a home matchup versus the Waterloo Warriors. The Gryphons used a balanced attack, with four players scoring in double figures, to win in straight sets over the visiting Warriors 25-19, 25-22 & 25-21. Guelph's
Matthew Baxter, a 6-foot-7 computer science major now in his fourth-year with the Gryphons, recorded a team-high 10 kills, followed closely by teammates
Zarko Ubiparip (9 kills) and
Jakson Paterson and
Oliver Hissink (8 kills each). The Gryphons also impressed defensively, limiting Waterloo to a modest .197 hitting percentage while also recording 9 blocks on the night.
"Waterloo is a team that can make life tough for you if they're able to get on top," said Gryphon head coach
Cal Wigston following his team's season-opening win on Saturday night.
"But our guys showed a lot of fight and determination tonight. We had lots of help all around between our left side guys and our right side guys. And our setter (Gideon Dresser) did a phenomenal job tonight. That was a big win for us."
The Gryphons would carry the momentum from Saturday night into a Sunday afternoon clash with the Trent Excalibur. The Gryphons would cruise to a straight sets win over Trent, with set scores 25-17, 25-16 and 25-21 to improve to 2-0 on the new season.
"That Trent program is still building and has some nice pieces," said Wigston post-game, now in his 14th season in charge of the men's volleyball program at the University of Guelph. "Last year, Trent took us to five sets. But this time around, I thought our guys did a great job with their preparation and were locked in from the beginning. Our rookies were able to get some floor time today. Our vets hit really well. Jak (Paterson) hit .800. Oliver (Hissink) hit .714. Zarko (Ubiparip) hit .529. Those are some big numbers. But they're the kind of numbers we're going to need to hit every night. Now we need to rest and repair. We're right back at it Wednesday night so it's a tight turnaround for our guys, but they've done everything we've asked of them so far."
The Gryphons (2-0) will now hit the road for a midweek game on Wednesday (Oct. 30) in London versus the Western Mustangs. After that, the Gryphons will head to Windsor for a Saturday night matchup (Nov. 2) versus the No. 10-nationally ranked Lancers.
