The York University Lions men's volleyball team returned to its winning ways on Friday night with a straight sets victory over the visiting Guelph Gryphons at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The first set was a close affair in which neither team was able to take a lead bigger than three points. After the Lions led 16-14 at the technical timeout, the Gryphons rallied late in the set to take a late lead at 23-22. But a pair of Guelph errors and a service ace by Andrew Shotbolt pushed the Lions to 25 points and they took the first set 25-23.
 
The Lions never trailed in the second set. The two teams traded points back and forth to 5-5 before the Lions started to pull ahead, ultimately leading 16-9 at the technical timeout and stretching the lead to 10 points at 21-11 late in the set. The Gryphons won a string of points after that but it was too late and the Lions held on to take the set 25-17.
 
The third set saw the Gryphons lead early and through the first 15 points of the match, when they were up 8-7. But the Lions went on to win the next four points to go up 11-8 and they did not look back from there. Toure Nwakwesi fired the final kill of the match and the Lions won in straight sets with the 25-20 victory.
 
Nwakwesi finished as the team's leading scorer with 12 points on 10 kills and two service aces. Logan Mend was all over the stats sheet himself. The starting setter tallied a game-high 29 assists and also added 8.5 points and a match-high eight digs.
 
Guelph's leading scorer was Kendrick Kerr with 6.5 points on two kills, 3.5 blocks and one service ace.
 
The Lions improved to 4-1 with the win and remain in second place in the OUA East, while the Gryphons dropped to 3-4 and currently sit fourth in the West Division.
 
The Lions will return to home court on Saturday night with a match against the Waterloo Warriors set for the Tait McKenzie Centre beginning at 8pm.