2023-24 Season Preview: Gryphon Women’s Volleyball

GUELPH, Ont. – Friday night (Nov. 10) the Guelph Gryphons women’s volleyball team will officially get their 2023-24 OUA regular season underway when they host the Lakehead Thunderwolves in their season-opener. This season, OUA women’s volleyball once again sees a 20-game regular season schedule, with 14-teams in the conference grouped into a single division. Following the end of the regular season, the 9 best teams will enter the OUA postseason. This season the first round of the playoffs will see the 8th and 9th-seeded teams square off in a play-in game for the right to play the top-seeded team in the conference, along with the remaining playoff teams completing the quarterfinal slate. The OUA postseason begins on Wednesday, Februray 21, 2024 and will culminate in the Quigley Cup which is set to be played on March 9. The top two teams from the OUA will then head to Hamilton for the 2023-24 U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball Championships hosted by the McMaster Marauders. Following the Gryphons season-opener they will return to the court at the Gryphons Athletics Centre Saturday (Nov. 11) for the second match of their doubleheader with Lakehead. 

“We have experienced some turnover this past offseason but many of the key contributors from last season return with another year of experience,” says head coach Paul Funk, who enters his 19th season of leading the University of Guelph women’s volleyball program. “We were close in many of last season’s matches but our 1-5 record in those that went 5-sets showed some of our inexperience. With a strong offseason and continued improvement over the course of this upcoming regular season, this team has the potential to earn a playoff spot.”

Leading the way for the Gryphons in 2023-24 is middle blocker Samantha Ingleton. Ingleton, a 6-foot-1 Orillia native, has evolved as a player over her time with the program and enters her third season of on-court action coming off of a career year in 2022-23. Last season Ingleton produced a team-high 178.5 points, 136 kills, and 22 blocks (4th in the OUA) to go along with a .250 hitting percentage (9th in the OUA). This season Ingleton will once again be relied upon to carry some of the load offensively and to provide veteran experience in big matches. Second-year hitter, Briar Crerar will look to build off of a standout freshman year, and saw her earn a spot on the OUA All-Rookie Team. A 6-foot psychology major, Crerar totaled the second-most points (133.0) and kills (115) on the Gryphons last season and will be expected to be a major contributor to the Gryphon attack this season. Crerar has also shown strong defensive play and serving and should be a steadying presence on the court throughout this season. Sophie Fernback also returns for her third year with the program after impressing in her first two seasons. The Vancouver, BC native and former OUA All-Rookie selection appeared in just 10 games last season due to injury but produced the third-most points on team, which comes after a team-high 85 kills in her rookie season.

Taking over the starting setter duties this year following the graduation of All-Star setter Ella Carter is Alexa Shields. Entering her third season with the U of G women’s volleyball program, Shields appeared in 19 games last season, playing in 63 sets. Shields has had a very impressive preseason which has included an All-Star honour at the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees preseason Classic which saw the Gryphons post a 4-1 record for a 3rd-place finish. Shields has shown great athleticism and jumping ability at the setter position with the management economics and finance major having produced 170 assists last season. The Aurora, Ontario native will also be looked upon to provide leadership both on and off the court as a veteran on this year’s team. At Libero, Sydney Simonson will see her role as a serving/defensive sub last season expand into a more consisted position as a serve receiving libero. The third-year Ottawa native studying biological and pharmacuetical chemistry has been steady through the preseason schedule and is quickly learning to embrace on-court leadership. Along with Simonson, Payton King will see time at Libero. King, a Newmarket native studying psychology, arrives at the University of Guelph after transferring from the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Also making their debut with the Gryphons is Mia Miskovic, who enters her second season with the program but first year of on-court action. The creative writing major from Ancaster, Ontario transferred to U of G from Western University and is expected to be an impactful player for the Gryphons this season, lining up alongside Samantha Ingleton at middle blocker. 

Hailey Holland, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Burlington is another transfer student-athlete, joining the Gryphons from Hofstra University south of the border. Holland joined the team midway through the 2022-23 season and appeared in 10 games where she produced 87 kills and 104 points with a .258 hitting percentage. The marketing management major is another student-athlete who will be expected to produce offensively for the Gryphons in 2023-24. In addition to the trio of transfers the Gryphons also welcome a group of five new recruits to the team, highlighted by Nikina Bear-Lowen, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter from Constance Lake First Nation, Ontario. Nikina, who had previously competed for the KW Predators Volleyball Club, has impressed through the preseasons schedule. The human kinetics major also represented Team Ontario at the 2023 North American Indigenous Games.

This weekend’s matches against the Lakehead Thunderwolves begins the Gryphons campaign to get back to the OUA playoffs after narrowly missing out on the postseason a year ago, with Guelph finishing the 2022-23 season with a record of 7-13. Following their season-opening doubleheader with Lakehead, the Gryphons will travel to Peterborough for a pair of matches against the Trent Excalibur before traveling to York University to face the Lions. Tickets to the Gryphons season-opener, and all regular season home games, are available at gryphons.ca/tickets, with all home and away games also being streamed at www.oua.tv.