London, ON – The Mustangs took on Brock for the second time this weekend at Alumni Hall on Saturday afternoon, taking home a gutsy 3-2 win over a top Badgers team.
Western fell in straight sets on Friday night to Brock as they looked to bounce back on Saturday afternoon. They did just that, as their heart and determination saw them take this one in five sets. The Mustangs took the first set 25-18, dropped the second 25-18, won the third 25-23, dropped the fourth 25-22, and won the fifth 16-14.
Janelle Albert led with 22 kills and 3 aces, while Devin Gerth had 16 kills and 1 ace. Rachel Gray had 14 kills and 1 ace in the win.
“We knew we didn’t have a choice,” said libero Maddie Bowles on her teams response. “We know Brock is a good team and we’d have to go all out and play with the most amount of heart that we have. We really just brought it today. We played as such a team and unit. There was nothing that could stop us tonight.”
“So proud of the guts and courage shown,” added head coach Melissa Bartlett. “It’s not an easy situation. That’s a fantastic team and we had to play significantly better without practicing and with very little rest. It’s a big challenge and we stepped up.”
The first point of the match was a hard-fought one, as both team’s produced spectacular digs and efforts to get off to a strong start.
W??l START OF 1ST SET
First-serve is underway at Alumni Hall as the Mustangs look to bounce-back against the Badgers.
While it was the visitors who eventually won the point, a big block from Devin Gerth put Western ahead 3-1 moments later as the crowd and bench sent deafening cheers echoing throughout the gym.
“We went into today knowing they’re tough and we’d have to play 100%,” said Bowles. “So we went out and from point one played 100% the entire time and didn’t let up.”
With things tied at seven, a confident and determined Western side took five of the next six points, taking control of the set. Rachel Gray extended the purple and white’s lead to seven at 17-10, eliciting a Brock timeout.
“In our timeouts we were really focused on staying dialed,” said Bowles. “There’s a big crowd and lots of distractions and we were so fatigued by the end of set five, we just had to stay dialed and know what we had to get done, we can be tired tomorrow. We had to stay focused and just get the job done in the moment.”
An ace from Gerth and a powerful kill from Albert highlighted a 4-point streak for the ‘Stangs, while setting up set-point at 24-15. Albert finished things off moments later as Western won their first set of the weekend 25-18.
W??l END OF 1ST SET
The Mustangs take the opening set over the Badgers 25-18! Janelle Albert and Rachel Gray both have 4 kills.
The two sides kept things close to start the second, as they exchanged points early on. A Gray ace put the Mustangs up 7-6, but the visitors in blue managed to go on a streak and take a five-point lead at 15-10.
With the scoreboard reading 17-12 for Brock, Western’s determination showed through as they took the following four points to cut their deficit to one point.
It wouldn’t be enough however, as they dropped the set 25-18 to the Badgers.
W??l END OF 2ND SET
The Mustangs drop this set 25-18 to the Badgers. Janelle Albert leads Western with 9 kills.
Western responded to start the third, as they rallied behind an Albert serve to go up 4-0, with the Brampton native getting an ace of her own in the process.
Albert’s second ace came later on in the set to put Western up 13-10 as the visitors began to crawl back. Brock kept things close, but the ‘Stangs held on to claim the hard-fought set 25-23.
W??l END OF 3RD SET
Western takes a close third set over the Badgers 25-23!
Looking to force a fifth set, Brock came out firing to take a 4-1 lead to start the fourth set. It didn’t take long for Western to tie things up, as they then took the lead at 7-6 courtesy of Ava Ebert.
With things sitting tied at 15, the sides continued to keep things close and exchange points until the Badgers found a gap at 22-17. They took the set 25-22.
W??l END OF 4TH SET
The Badgers force a fifth set with a 25-22 fourth set win. Janelle Albert leads Western with 18 kills and 3 aces.
Brock took the first two points of the deciding set, before the ‘Stangs took the next three and eventually doubled up on their opponent at 6-3 and again at 8-4 alongside an electric crowd.
The Badgers kept it tight however, cutting their deficit to one at 11-10 and tying it up right after with an ace.
Sitting tied at 14, a block from Gray and Lindsay Kleuskens gave Western match-point, which they were able to secure for a final 16-14 fifth set thriller.
“It feels so good,” said Bowles on the win. “It was honestly a really big win because Brock was undefeated up until last weekend and it’s huge. It feels so good.”
“Game plan execution helped [tonight],” said Bartlett. “Against a team that has that much talent, you have to execute on certain things. We saw on film we didn’t do it yesterday and we had the benefit of doing it again today. But also just playing with more guts. We had to take more risks and big swings and we did that all day.”
Western improves to 11-2 with the win while Brock drops to 11-2. The focus for the Mustangs now turns to their series against Toronto next weekend.
“Toronto is going to be just as good as a team and are going to come out firing,” said Bowles. “We just have to give 100% and play as a team.”
“We take pride in being one of the top in the OUA. Brock is a top team in the country, so to show we can compete with them is really important and meaningful to us and helps us stay near the top of the standings,” concluded Bartlett. “We are excited as we are just hitting the heart of our season. We’ve got great opponents coming up and we are so ready for that challenge. We have another weekend at home against a perennial powerhouse in Toronto and we look forward to that.”
The Mustangs are next in action on Saturday, January 28th as they welcome the Varsity Blues to Alumni Hall. First-serve is set for 6pm with tickets being available to purchase at westerrnmustangs.ca
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