London, ON – In the second game of their 3-match weekend series against Lakehead, the Mustangs put forth another dominant showing ultimately claiming the victory in straight sets.
The Mustangs got started right where they left off last night and quickly took a 7-0 lead in the first set before the Thunderwolves could register a point.
A block by Claire Stewart and Lauren Pastor would see the Mustangs go up 16-9 at the technical timeout.
The visitors would go on a 3-point run to decrease their deficit, but the purple and white would take the first set 25-16 with lots of confidence.
Stewart and Kate Van Camp put up a big block to start the second set and sent a jolt of energy throughout the home crowd and bench. The Mustangs would win the next 9 to mirror the score at the start of the first with an even better 10-0 score. A service error would reward Lakehead their first point of the set.
After creating a safe lead in the second, the purple and white were able to cycle through their bench and show off their depth.
“We had so many people come in off the bench who made such a big impact on the team and it was so amazing to see everybody really contribute,” said libero Maddie Bowles. “The depth really showed today which is really fun.”
Not only is having a deep bench beneficial for the Lakehead series, but it also proves important for long-term season success.
“This is a great opportunity to really develop and get confidence in our players. They wouldn’t be on the floor if we didn’t have confidence in them,” said head coach Melissa Bartlett. “It’s also going to be a challenge for teams to play us in the future because I don’t know if they would know for certain who would be on the court for us which is exciting.”
Kylie Maxwell would serve to put Western up 23-13, and then a Van Camp spike would set up set point. Janelle Albert would finish it off for a final 25-13 second set victory.
The start of the third set proved to be a lot closer than the previous two, but the Mustangs never let go of their lead and started 8-5.
A big Bowles dig electrified the bench and saw the home-team’s score increase to double of their opponent at 14-7. The Mustangs wouldn’t steer from their dominant performance and would ultimately take the third set 25-11 for their second-straight three set victory.
It was a collective effort, and the Mustangs were all smiles as many of their teammates got their first shot of OUA action.
“It honestly does feel like a family out there,” said Bowles. “We are each other’s best friends, we’re each other’s number one supporters, so seeing each other get big kills or big blocks is the best thing in the world to be able to cheer as loud as we can for each other.”
Western will play their third game this weekend tomorrow to finish off their 2021 schedule.
“Tomorrow we just got to go out and do the same thing. It’s hard when it’s back-to-back-to back,” said Bowles. “We’re going to be tired and drained but it’s important that we pull energy from where we can and try to win three straight.”
“It’s about mental focus. We have never played 3 matches in a row on a weekend so that’s a challenge,” added Bartlett. “I’m hoping we can have our strongest match tomorrow and that would be the biggest challenge I’d say to my team is to have our strongest match in terms of our communication, energy, effort and execution.”
The Mustangs will play their final match of their three-day weekend series against the Thunderwolves tomorrow November 27th at 12pm. Tickets are available online only at WesternMustangs.ca/tickets
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