Saturday afternoon's matchup between the Nipissing Lakers women's volleyball team and the Guelph Gryphons could have gone either way.

Despite the end result, which saw the Gryphons come away with the 3-0 victory, all three sets were tight, well-played and exciting contests.

In the end, Gryphons came away with wins of 25-23, 25-21 and 25-22

Throughout the early part of the match, neither team was able to take a big lead or control of the match.

The Lakers grabbed the advantage at the technical timeout in the opening set, leading 16-14.

The Gryphons fought back and held at a slight 24-23 lead late in the set and put the ball away on the next play to claim a 25-23 win and grab a 1-0 lead.

In the second set, Guelph picked up where they left off and led 11-8 early on.

Nipissing was able to push back and turned the tables on the visitors, pushing ahead 17-16, but they were unable to hold on.

Guelph outscored Nipissing 9-4 down the stretch to pick up a 25-21 victory and take a commanding 2-0 lead.

Play in the third set had the Lakers down just a point, 13-12, to the Gryphons, but Guelph extended that lead to four points at the technical timeout.

Down 16-12, the Lakers looked for a spark in the second half of the third set.

Nipissing refused to go away and closed the gap slightly and found themselves down 20-17 late in the third set.

From there, the teams traded points, but eventually the Gryphons put the Lakers away, winning 25-22.

Averi Bodnar led the Lakers with eight kills, while Shayla Kessler and Megan Winter each had six in Saturday's contest.

Originally the Lakers were set to take on the Waterloo Warriors Sunday, but the match has been cancelled/postponed due to inclement weather expected in the area.

Nipissing is back in action Jan. 17 at Toronto.