Guelph, ON - The Guelph Gryphons men's volleyball team finished off the first half of the season on a strong note, beating the Nipissing Lakers in four sets on Saturday afternoon at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre. Set scores were 25-20, 25-22, 20-25 and 26-24.

Second-year left side, Zach Newman (Kitchener, ON), came up huge for the Gryphons with a game-high 21 kills. The biggest of all came on the winning point – fellow second-year player Kendrick Kerr (Georgetown, ON) served it to Lakers fifth year, Jason Cannon (Fredericton, NB), who bumped it right over the net, and into Newman's wheelhouse. Newman made no mistake, driving home the kill to bring Guelph to a 4-6 record on the season.

Newman's performance on the attack was huge, making up for what wasn't his best serving game. From the velocity and downward movement on the ball, you can tell why he has a dozen service aces on the season, but he was a little wild against Nipissing, recording no aces along with three service errors.

Guelph didn't have a tough time putting themselves up two sets early, but struggled throughout the third set, and had to rally back to take the fourth. Guelph, down 22-23 at the time, tied the fourth set off one what was probably the biggest of fifth-year masters student, Dallas Keith's (Toronto, ON) game-high 13 digs.

Guelph's blocking game rose to the occasion, matching the Lakers' (who had the second-highest combined blocks in the OUA entering play) solo blocks with two (from Luke Woud and Kerr), and beating them in assisted blocks, 18-14. Woud (5) and Kerr (4) also led the both teams in that category.

Cameron Branch (Kingsville, ON) had another solid game for the Lakers, whose 20 kills vaulted the third year to first in the OUA with 159 kills through 10 matches. Branch also landed one of his team's 10 service aces (Jack Peckham and Warren Taylor led the match with three apiece). Guelph was not as dangerous on the serve, racking up only five aces. Two of the five came from the 6-foot-8 Woud. The fourth year from Uxbridge, ON was also effective at the net, using his height to his advantage, while being short to the ball, to drive home six kills.

Saturday's game wrapped up a huge 2-0 weekend for the Gryphons, as they move into a tie for eighth place with Nipissing. Guelph doesn't play again until they host the undefeated McMaster Maurauders at home on January 16.