2022 Mustangs Season of Celebration: Volleyball

London, ON – Today’s team recognition as part of the 2022 Mustangs Season of Celebration is the Mustangs Volleyball teams.

The Mustangs Women’s team bookended their season with some impressive performances, this included a 5 game winning streak to start the season before the holiday break. The Mustangs would finish the season with a 7-5 record in the regular season and booked their spot in the OUA playoffs.

In the first round the Mustangs would take on the McMaster Marauders. The game was tightly contested through the first two sets as each team would take a 25-23 win to even the match at 1 game a piece. After McMaster took a convincing win in the 3rd set, Western would rebound with another 25-23 win to even the match at 2 games a piece. In the fifth set the Mustangs would rally after the teams were tied at 6 to go on a run and finish off the set with a 15-11 win and move on to the next round. Jaeya Brach led Western with 16 kills in the match while Lauren Pastor had 27 assists.

The Mustangs would book a spot in the OUA West final against the powerhouse from Brock. Western would push the Badgers all match long, but Brock would pull out the 27-25 win in set one, following that up with a 25-22 win and then finished out the match with a 25-17 win. Janelle Albert led the Mustangs in West Final with 15 kills, 3 blocks and 13 digs.

Janelle Albert was named OUA West Most Valuable Player and a First Team All-Star at the conclusion of the season & also U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian. Lauren Pastor, was named an OUA Second Team All-Star and a member of the All-Rookie team along side teammate Jaeya Brach. 

The Women’s team MVP is Janelle Albert.

The Mustangs Men’s team had to deal with plenty of ups and downs over their season which started with a 2-2 record before the holiday break. Coming out of the break the Mustangs again had a 2-2 record to move to 4-4. The Mustangs final regular season game was cancelled due to a COVID protocol concerns with the Windsor Lancers so those two games were cancelled and the Mustangs entered the playoffs following a meeting with Guelph.

Western met the Brock Badgers in the first round of the OUA playoffs and battled hard but found themselves down 2-0 after a 25-23 1st set & 25-20 2nd set. Western would rebound in the 3rd set and win 26-24 and cut the Brock lead to 2-1. The 4th set was back and forth but the Badgers would come away with the 25-23 win and end the Mustangs season.

Amit Sayal would be recognized as the OUA West recipient of the Dale Iwanoczko Award of Merit for his athletic, academic and community involvement achievements. Jackson Bere would once again be named an OUA First Team All-Star and 1st year Mustang Jonah Millard was named to the OUA All-Rookie Team.

The Men’s team MVP is Jackson Bere

Bronze W recipients are: Madison Bowles, Josiah Esau

Graduating Ring recipients are: Brooklyn Bere, Jackson Bere, Evan Hochman, Amit Sayal

Congratulations to all those being recognized this season for their outstanding work representing the Mustangs.