Mustangs efficiently top Trent in straight sets

London, ON – The Mustangs opened up their weekend series against Trent with a quick 3-0 win at Alumni Hall Friday night.
 
Coming off a 2-0 series win against York last weekend, the Mustangs came out firing in what ended in a one-hour long straight sets victory. The ‘Stangs took the first set 25-14, and then closed out the game with 25-15 and 25-12 set wins over a Trent side still looking for their first win of the season.
 
“We knew they’d fight hard and give it their all to try and get their first win,” said Janelle Albert on the approach to this game. “For us, we were focused on improving and its all business out there.”
 
“One of the things we try and do is prepare the same for every opponent. Same amount of film, same game plan, same attention to detail,” added head coach Melissa Bartlett. “That helps our players focus no matter the opponent. I think we did a good job at keying in on some of their tendencies.”
 
Janelle Albert led the way with 14 kills and 1 ace, while Hannah Joo registered 3 aces of her own. Rachel Gray had 11 kills and 1 ace, and Claire Stewart and Devin Gerth both ended with 8 kills and an ace to their name.
 
The two team’s exchanged points to start with kills and service errors from both sides. With things tied at six, a kill by Devin Gerth put the Mustangs ahead while sending Rachel Gray to serve.
 
One of Janelle Albert’s six kills in the set alongside an Ava Ebert block and Trent errors gave the ‘Stangs their first significant lead of the game at 11-6. The purple and white went on to win four of the next six points before the visitors in white called for a timeout.
 
The Excalibur’s were unable to stifle the firing offense of the Mustangs as the purple and white continued their dominant run and were able to run away with the set. A Trent error officially handed the first set to Western at 25-14.
 
The ‘Stangs got out to a 3-0 in the second set, with a Gray ace and Gerth kill helping Western to double up on the visitors at 10-5.
 
“Our serving improved a lot,” said Albert. “We were hitting our targets and that was one of our goals before the game. Overall playing as a team and having fun and really enjoying the moment and being grateful for the moment, and you could see it out there when we were playing cohesively together.”
 
Kills from Stewart and Gray put the purple and white in the driver’s seat at 17-10, while Gerth and Ebert helped clinch the set at 25-15. Stewart and Gerth both registered four kills in the set while Gray followed with three.
 
“We are really trying to have our hitters hit different balls instead of always sending them out to the pin and having them hit there, so moving them inside or maybe having some x plays like crossing over of hitters,” said Hannah Joo. “So really just adding some variety to our offense and making it a little less predictable and more exciting to watch.”
 
Looking to close this one out in three, the Mustangs rode their momentum to an early 5-1 third set lead. Trent wouldn’t go that easy however, winning four of the next six points.
 
With Western starting to use their bench, Meagan Rising came on and registered her first kill to make it 8-5 for the ‘Stangs. The Mustangs closed out the set in quick fashion, taking it 25-12 and the game along with it.
 
“I think that we really had the opportunity in this game to try out some things we’ve been working on in practice and that we don’t necessarily get the chance to when it comes down to the wire,” said Joo. “We really made the most of this opportunity, coming away feeling like we accomplished something which is fulfilling. I’m really proud of how our team performed and how much we were able to grow over this match.”
 
“Our decision making and error management was really good, and that shows in our team attack efficiency,” said Bartlett on her team’s performance. “We hit over five hundred which is almost unheard of in women’s volleyball, so that was exciting to see that we could maintain a high level of play through the whole match.”
 
Western now improves to 5-1 on the season, while Trent drops to 0-5. The two will face off once again on Sunday, back at Alumni Hall.
 
“Going forward we are going to keep taking what works and improving on that, and maybe try out some new things and test them again with these opportunities we have to experiment with new things,” said Joo on Sunday’s rematch.
 
“It’s an interesting challenge to take a day off and then play again,” concluded Bartlett. “So same thing, we keep our routine, routine is really important. We’ll do our serve and pass, our film, and then we are going to change up our lineup just a bit to give some different players that have been working really hard an opportunity to be on the court so we look forward to that.”

And while the Mustangs continue to take it game by game, enjoying each win along the way, they all know that all of this work is towards achieving a greater goal.
 
“I know the team is happy with the win,” said Albert. “But we are still focused on improving for the championships at the end, so I know that our main goal is going to be improving for that.”
 
The Mustangs will play their last home game of the calendar year on Sunday against Trent. First-serve is set for 1pm at Alumni Hall, with tickets being available to purchase at westernmustangs.ca