LONDON, Ont. – It was senior night for the Western Mustangs men’s volleyball team as they honoured their two seniors, Kyle Bryce (Guelph, Ont.) and Eric Simon (London, Ont.), playing in their final regular season home game. In a cruel twist of irony, fifth year senior Eric Simon suffered an ankle injury while hustling for a loose ball early in the second set.

The Mustangs looked out of sorts without Simon and were outplayed by the Guelph Gryphons in three straight sets by scores of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-19. Mathew Waite led the Mustangs with 11 points.

Coach Jim Sage was impressed with the play of the Gryphons, who are now 9-6 on the year.

“They played very well, outplayed us and served and dug very well,” he said.

Their focus is now to move forward and deal with the away game on Feb. 5 against the Queen’s Gaels.  

“We will move on, refocus and have a hard week of practice to get ready for Queen’s,” Sage added.

The loss ends the Mustangs winning streak at 11 and puts their record to 13-2 on the year, dropping them into a tie with the McMaster Marauders for first place in the OUA.

The Gryphons came out with more energy than the Mustangs in the first set, using a crisp attack and strong net defence throughout to win the set 25-21.

The second set was close throughout, with each team trading points. Guelph took a small 15-12 lead and held on to it, extending the three point lead to six at the end of the set to win 25-19.

The Gryphons could sense the possibility of a victory and were playing with strong intensity as the Mustangs seemed handcuffed and unable to mount a consistent attack. The Mustangs never gave up though, and hung close to Guelph throughout the third set. The constant attacking pressure from the Gryphons proved to be too much as they completed the sweep, winning the third set 25-19.