GUELPH, Ont. – The Western Mustangs didn't get their regular season schedule off to the start they would have liked, falling to the Guelph Gryphons in three sets (21-25, 18-25, 16-25) on Friday night at the Gryphon Athletic Centre.
Chris Newcombe led the Mustangs offence in the loss, picking up nine points off five kills, two service aces, and two solo blocks.
Evan Hammond was next up on the score sheet with five points coming from four kills and one block.
Matthew Baxter led all players on Friday night, putting up 11 points for the Gryphons as the only player to score in double digits. Zachary Newman followed for the home side, tallying nine points from six kills, one ace, and two solo blocks.
Both teams struggled on offence in the first set, with eight of the game's first 14 points coming off either attack or service errors as Guelph held a slight 8-6 lead in the early going. Aces and errors continued to be the story heading into the time out, with neither team being able to find their rhythm as Guelph held a 16-14 lead at the technical timeout.
Western would pull to within one just after the timeout, but the Gryphons began to pull away and took a 25-21 set win.
The Gryphons started off the second set with an early 3-0 lead on their way to building up a 16-8 advantage at the technical timeout. Things were more even after the break, with Western outscoring the Gryphons 10-9 over the remainder of the frame, but the early deficit was too much to overcome with Guelph winning 25-18 to go up 2-0.
Errors once again plagued both sides in the early stages of the third before Guelph started to find a bit of a rhythm and moved ahead 16-8 at the technical timeout. The Mustangs responded well after the timeout, taking advantage of errors by the Gryphons to close the gap to only five points with Guelph up 17-12.
The Gryphons closed things down from there, however, finishing the game with a kill from Baxter to take the set 25-16 and the match 3-0.
Next up for the Mustangs is another road contest, as they'll head to Waterloo on Saturday night to wrap up their season opening weekend against the Warriors. Game time is set for 8 p.m., and fans can watch all the action live on OUA.tv.
