Box Score The No. 10 Warriors narrowly avoided an upset on Friday night as they snuck past the visiting Guelph Gryphons in five sets (25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 24-26, 15-13) at the PAC.  The thrilling seesaw battle was capped off with a tremendous fifth set which saw the Warriors come out on top following a double block at the net by Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines/) and Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo/).

Waterloo's third straight win propels their record to 14-2 while although their play did not reflect it tonight, Guelph dropped to 4-12.

The first set opened with back and forth play before the Gryphons took a 23-21 lead late into the set.  The Warriors would however flex their muscles and tally the next four points with great blocking by Dyck at the net to take the opening set 25-23.

The second set would be all Gryphons with rookie left side Timothy Warnholtz (Guelph) leading the offensive charge notching several of his 17 total kills as Guelph would cruise to the 25-18 second set win.

Guelph continued their offensive pressure into the third and pivotal set opening up a 9-4 lead but the resilient Warriors would come out of a timeout with five straight points to even the score at 9-all.  Scott Thomson (St. Marys/) would step up his game midway through the set and strong serving by Tyler Motherwell (Toronto/Warriors) would put the black and gold up 15-13.  The never-say-die Gryphons fought their way back into the set to make it 21-all but would make detrimental errors down the stretch to hand Waterloo the set 25-22 and 2-1 lead.

After a fairly even start to the fourth set Guelph would open up a 16-12 lead but again the home side would draw even thanks to strong hitting from the left side by Kazhamiaka.  With the Gryphons up 24-21 Waterloo would fight off three straight set points to even the score at 24-all before Guelph would benefit from a Waterloo hitting error to capture the fourth set 26-24.

The fifth and final set would see the Warriors take an 8-4 lead before Guelph would battle all the way back to take a 10-9 lead into a timeout.  The Warriors would benefit from a well drawn up play as Zachary Doherty (Goderich/) would put away the kill to even the score.  The two combatants would go point-for-point before Waterloo's blocking duo of Dyck and Kazhamiaka would send the ball back on the Gryphons side to take the set 15-13 and match 3-2.

Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines/) was key in the middle for the Warriors with 11 kills on just 16 attacks while adding an incredible nine blocks.  Kazhamiaka was also strong from the left side with 14 kills while Doherty had 11 from the right.  Thomson picked up 30 assists in the win while Erich Woolley (New Dundee/) made 21 digs, several of which were highlight reel digs.

Waterloo will enjoy the rest of the weekend off before they close out the regular season at home against the Windsor Lancers on Friday and Western Mustangs on Saturday.  Both games are set for 8pm at the PAC.