Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 It as a tough first weekend at home as the Lancer men's volleyball team lost two heartbreaking games in five sets against the Guelph Gryphons and Waterloo Warriors at the St. Denis Centre.
 
Windsor was defeated by the Gryphons 3-2 (23-25, 25-20, 25-19, 24-26, 12-15) on Friday night and 3-2 (20-25, 28-26, 25-22, 23-25, 15-17) by the Warriors on Saturday.
 
On Friday against Guelph, both teams passed well to begin but Guelph ended up on top thanks to some timely blocks and early kills. The Gryphons won the first set 25-23.
 
After regrouping, the Lancers battled back in the second set. While failing to overcome the offensive slump from the first set, the Lancers relied on their strong team defensive skills. They were able to rally behind 4th years Andrew Chelladurai and Blase Wasser who had 9 and 5 digs respectively through the second set. Greg Simone and Gabriel Burlacu were able to build on this defence with 5 kills each to give the Lancers the second set 25-20.
 
Building on the momentum from the second set, the Lancers came out firing in the 3rd. Wasser continued to hold down the fort on defence, while Burlacu and Simone continued on offence. The Lancers won the third set handily 25-19.
 
The 4th set saw the momentum shift back across the net as the Gryphons refused to go down without a fight. While the Lancers out dug the Gryphons, this set came down to blocking and offence. The Gryphons were able to out block the Lancers. The Lancers also hit in the negative for the set. The set battled into extra points but saw the Gryphons come out on top by a score of 26-24.
 
The fifth set saw the teams both go on runs of momentum. The Lancers were hot out of the gate, leading by a score of 8-3 when the teams switched sides; in large part due to quick thinking by head coach James Gravelle inserting 5th year Left Side Chad Hinchey into the line-up. Hinchey shouldered the load offensively giving the Lancers a boost early in the set with 3 kills. The Gryphons refused to give up however; Guelph stormed back from a five point deficit to take the 5th and deciding set 15-12.
 
On Saturday, the Lancers are Warriors showed tremendous poise and determination through five difficult and entertaining sets in front of a boisterous crowd at the St. Denis Centre.
 
The Warriors had great chemistry to start the game and broke down the Lancer defense with some strong hits throughout the first set to win 25-20.
 
Windsor picked up their defense and challenged the impressive Waterloo offense throughout the second in third sets. Both sets were tight affairs and the Lancers strong play and few key plays led the Blue & Gold to win both sets, 28-26 and 25-22.
 
Waterloo took the momentum of a tight 25-23 fourth set win into the fifth and defeated the Lancers in extra points 17-15 to win the match.
 
Windsor was led by Burlacu with 17 kills and 3 digs, while Greg Simone had 21 digs. Waterloo's Aiden Simone had 16 kills and 10 digs to lead the Warriors.
 
The Lancers will return to the court on Thursday when they host the Western Mustangs at 8:00pm at the St. Denis Centre.