Postseason looms large for Gryphons

Justin Dunk

“We knew that we were going to be one of the top teams this year,” said Gryphon head coach, Paul Funk.

After two weekend wins against RMC on Feb. 12 and over Queen’s on Feb. 13, Guelph clinched the first overall seed for the Women’s OUA volleyball playoffs.

“With us being behind MAC for most of the year it never really got into our heads until the very last weekend, but we’ll take it,” said Funk of the top seed.

In the process of securing the number one seed in the OUA, the women set a new school record with 16 wins, previously 14, in the regular season.

“We beat it on Saturday when we played RMC, which was pretty exciting,” said fifth-year veteran, Kylen Van Osch. “Even though it was an ugly game against RMC we still got the job done and broke the record.”

The women have been playing some of their best volleyball of the entire campaign heading into the post season. Guelph has ripped off seven wins in succession, since a Jan. 14, five set loss against Western, only dropping one of their last 22 sets.

“We’re on a pretty good roll right now and our confidence is pretty high,” said Funk. “We just want to keep trying to stay on this roll.”

An OUA quarterfinal match against the Brock Badgers awaits the Gryphons on Saturday Feb. 19 at the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre.

“They’ve always given us trouble in the past with their defence. In the past they’ve been able to frustrate us by keeping the ball off the floor and keep getting back over the net,” said Funk. “We’ve faced a lot of teams like that down the stretch and we’re dealing much better with that, not letting ourselves getting frustrated.”

Guelph must be well prepared defensively in order to handle the Badger attack.

“They do have some tendencies within their offence and in certain rotations. So dedicating our block to the right people at the right time is going to be important,” said Funk.

Cliché or not, the Gryphons will focus on the playoffs one game at a time. Especially, since Guelph was handed one of only three losses in the season, a three sets to one final, to the Badgers on Nov. 20, 2010.

“We’re trying to just focus on this game and not get too far ahead of ourselves,” said Van Osch.

A quarterfinal win would mean Guelph would host the OUA Final Four Volleyball Championships, but Brock stands in the way and in order to come out with a win the Gryphons will need to execute with and without the ball.

“Offensively, to get ahead we’ll have to have balance in our attack and have everyone contributing to getting points,” said Van Osch. “ For defence will have to definitely serve, receive well and be able to get balls up off the floor.”

Van Osch has been dreaming of the chance to play a postseason match on her home court.

“I’m pretty excited. I’ve been waiting for this and working hard for this for five years.”

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