After thrilling semi-final win against McMaster, Gryphon men’s volleyball team falls to Queen’s in OUA finals

Written by Dan Howse

Sometimes, a game comes down to one play.  Sometimes, the play comes to do one bounce.  Sometimes, the bounce comes down to one inch.

The Gryphon men’s five-set loss to Queen’s in Saturday’s OUA championship was one of those games.

After upsetting the defending champion McMaster Marauders 3-2 on Friday, in what was one of the biggest comebacks in Guelph sporting history, the Gryphons lost what had to be the one of the closest games in Guelph sporting history the following evening.

Losing the first set 25-22 to Queen’s, Guelph stormed back and won both the second and third sets by same scores of 25-17. After Queen’s responded by winning the fourth, the Gryphons appeared poised to take the fifth and final set, staying on top of the Gaels throughout the set. But in the end, junior national team members Joren Zeeman and Michael Amoroso of the Gaels proved too much to handle, going on a 6-1 run to end the set and the match.

Gryphons middle Andrew Revie goes up for a kill in Friday's semi-final win over McMaster. Photo courtesy.

After picking up their thirteenth point on a big kill from departing fifth-year captain Jonathan Whitton, the Gryphons looked ready to close out the game. But, after a pair of big blocks from Bryan Faultley and Niko Rukavina, the Gaels rode their star horse, going to Zeeman’s power around the net for the final two kills.

Obviously, in a game like volleyball, saying the ball took a bad bounce is kind of redundant – it happens on nearly every point. But when the final point in a gold medal game comes down to a clutch dig nicking the corner of an overhanging basketball net, it’s fair to say that for the Gryphons, the game was lost on a bad bounce.

“It’s just heartbreaking right now,” said head coach Cal Wigston. “It was ours to lose and we found a way to lose it.”

While the loss put a decidedly bittersweet aftertaste on an otherwise incredible season and playoff run, Wigston didn’t let it ruin the year.

“It was phenomenal,” Wigston said of the semi-final win on Friday night.  Down 2-0 in an enemy arena, the Gryphons stormed back and won the final three sets. And while the program has been consistently improving, beating a dominant McMaster team on the road gives the Gryphons a new kind of legitimacy and reputation.

“It was almost monumental for our program as we move ahead,” said Wigston.

Whitton shared Wigston’s enthusiasm over the weekend.

“The games were exciting and an incredible event to be a part of,” he said.

While rotation regulars like Whitton, Gabriel deGroot, Andrew Bartram, Riley McAllister and Winston Rosser all played very solid games over the weekend, the one player who came in and really stood out was the feisty and athletic second-year Jamie Stamler.

“Mac didn’t know what to do with Jamie Stamler,” said Wigston. “They’d never seen him before.”

With his combination of exceptional vertical, power hitting instincts and unrivalled intensity, few teams would know what to do with the six-foot-four middle.  Queen’s certainly didn’t.

Stamler’s substitution in Saturday’s game sparked the Gryphons, and helped lead them to winning the second and third sets.  Although Stamler started last year, Wigston moved him into a reserve role for 2009-10 in an effort to create a more balanced lineup and unexpected attack off of the bench. Wigston said that Stamler handled the switch with impressive maturity.

“He’s a great teammate, a good leader and the guys love him,” said Wigston.

With both Queen’s and McMaster game-planning around neutralizing the bigger but slower starting middle hitter Andrew Revie, Wigston made the difficult decision to give the bulk of his minutes to the Gryphons’ secret weapon.

“I felt sick for Andrew; we would not have made it through the [quarter-final] Windsor game if not for him.”

But, with the season on the line, Wigston had to show both the Marauders and Gaels a different and surprising new look.

The other surprise waiting for both McMaster and Queen’s were the fans. While both matches will officially be recorded as road games, memory suggests otherwise.

While the Marauders still brought out a number of fans at home, Guelph had a sizable contingent of their own, harassing the Marauder bench with pots, pans and a whole lot of noise. With no home team to contend with, Guelph fans were even more dominant in the Queen’s game, taking over the arena and claiming the Burridge Gym as their own.

Wigston could not contain his gratitude.

“I’m unbelievably grateful to our fans,” he said. “Guelph is a phenomenal place and I will never, ever forget that.”