SCOREBOARD

Waterloo 3 @ Queen's 1

York 1 @ Western 3

Nipissing 1 @ Windsor 3

Guelph 3 @ RMC 0

Cok, Simone lead Warriors past Gaels for sixth straight win

It was a hitting parade for a pair of Warrior outside hitters as Aidan Simone (London) and Braden Cok (Waterloo) teamed up for 22 kills each to help Waterloo get past the Queen's Gaels 3-1 on Saturday night at the PAC. 
 
The win was Waterloo's sixth straight as the black and gold remain perfect in 2016.  Their record was boosted to 9-8 while Queen's fell to 12-5.

The Warriors were a bit stale to open the match as Queen's took advantage of nine errors by the home side to win the opening set 25-23.

The tight contest continued into the second set as the two combatants exchanged points all set long but the Warriors would sneak away with it by a score of 28-26 thanks to a setters dump by Gibson Graham (Markham) and a Simone (Aidan) kill to cap it off.

That second set win seemed to rally the troops as the Warriors came out firing in the third with 19 kills compared to just 11 for Queen's as Waterloo took it 25-21.  The same story continued in the fourth set with Simone leading the way with kills and digs all over the court.  He was a man possessed in the final set for the Warriors.  Waterloo would cruise to the finish line, capturing the fourth set 25-17 and match 3-1.

Erich Woolley (New Dundee) had himself a game in his final regular season home game at the PAC with 16 digs.  The fifth year libero certainly hopes his illustrious career has one more game in it at the PAC. 

Graham was also solid in the win with 51 assists while another senior playing his last regular season game in the PAC, Greg Simone (London) was big with eight kills. At the net, Jordan McConkey (Stratford) provided a wall, finishing with a game high six blocks.

For Queen's it was Marko Dakic leading his team in kills with 14 while Mike Tomlinson had 13 in a losing effort.

The Warriors will look to continue their roll next weekend as they battle the Nipissing Lakers and York Lions, both on the road.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Mustangs tame Lions in four sets

LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs picked up a key win over the York Lions in four sets (29-27, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17) on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall while also moving one step closer to a playoff position.
 
The win keeps Western tied with Waterloo in fifth place with an 8-7 record, while York's loss pushes them out of the entanglement for fifth and into sole possession of seventh at 7-10.
 
Mike Choja and Zeid Hamadeh – each with 18 points – led the Mustangs to victory through both attacking and blocking efforts.
 
On the other half of the floor, York was led by Alexander Duncan-Thibault and Tyler Covach who each put up 12.5 points, while Arther Szwarc came through with 11.5.
 
"Going into the match we knew [this game] was very important," said assistant coach Rob Atkinson. "Us, York, and the team we play tomorrow – Nipissing, are all fighting for the two last playoff spots. Going in we knew we were fairly even. They had beaten us in the fifth set 13-15 in the first half of the year so we knew it would be close."
 
Not only matching in the standings heading into the game, the teams matched each other in both points and skill for much of the first set.
 
The first rallies of the game were essentially a battle between middles, and at a quick glance it appeared as if York would have the most dominating player on the floor in Szwarc. Staying on the court for full rotations instead of splitting time with their libero, his high flying attack was a constant threat to Western. At the net, his 6-10 frame challenged even the best purple and white attackers.
 
However, it was Choja who was proving to be a more valuable middle. Leading the Mustangs offensively throughout the first set, the London native was going head-to-head with Szwarc and almost always coming out victorious.
 
The Mustangs managed to get the best of the Lions by concentrating power in the middle and relying on Choja and Evan Hammond to take a first set victory at 29-27.
 
The second set opened up with the same fierce competition that took the first into additional points. Rallies were either brutally short, with the ball only crossing the net once or twice after the serve, or were exhaustingly long with neither team willing to give up what would undoubtedly be a well-deserved point. 
 
Western continued to share equal responsibility in the back court, while Choja and Hammond shouldered the burden of the offensive effort.
 
York, slipping behind, also looked to the middle for points. However, Szwarc wasn't able to carry the team on his own. Choosing to set the middle over all other players on the floor, Western was able to pick up on York's patterns and adjust their defensive and block game accordingly.
 
With Western able to accurately predict where the ball would be coming from they had a firm edge over the Lions to close out the second set at 25-21. 
 
Moving into the third set long rallies were abandoned as both teams looked to their heaviest hitters to make an impact. Even with the increase in power, the teams remained evenly matched.
 
Momentum began permanently shifting in favour of the Lions when Robert Thompson took over at the service line. Building up a four-point lead, York was pushing hard for an additional set.
 
With Covach taking over as York's most dangerous hitter, the Lions pushed through Western to take the second set at 23-25.
 
Helping the Lions reach 25 was a Mustang rotation error, three service errors and problems in on-court communication.
 
"We had a little lull," reflected Atkinson. "We gave up a few easy points away and had trouble closing the gap. I don't think we played poorly outside of that stretch of five or six points but it was enough for them to hang on."
 
The set loss seemed to be all Western needed to snap back into the game as they waited until the final set to play some of their best volleyball.
 
After lying dormant in the previous set, both Western's blockers were at it again, this time with Bryn Ramsay leading the effort while setter Matt Hooker managed a solo as well. Making the most of his time in the front, Ramsay began sending out some his his strongest attacks of the night.
 
The move away from the middle proved to be very lucrative for the Mustangs as they faced the smallest amount of resistance they'd seen all night long.  The Lions struggled to interrupt the Mustangs as they steadily moved towards the final points of the match, ultimately closing it out at 25-17.
 
"At the end of the day we just put together one of our strongest matches of the year," said Atkinson.
 
The Mustangs are back at Alumni Hall for a Senior Day matchup against the Nipissing Lakers as they hold the home court advantage for the last time in the regular season. The game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., with live streaming available on OUA.tv.

Source: Western Mustangs

Gryphons defeat Paladins in straight sets

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.

Source: Guelph Gryphons