London, ON – The Mustangs outlasted the McMaster Marauders on Friday night, taking a 3-2 win in a battle of undefeated teams coming into the night.
“We knew that was going to be the tail of the match tonight, I predicted a five-setter tonight because that was one of the best matchups in OUA Volleyball,” said Mustangs Head Coach Melissa Bartlett “We had all kinds of highs and lows and that’s the fun part of our sport, luckily we had more highs than lows tonight,”
Western was led by captain Rachel Gray with 13 kills and 27 total attacks while Emma Buntic had 12 kills and Lael Harrison added 11 kills.
“We came out firing in the first set, we knew they (McMaster) would bring some heavy offence which makes for some really fun volleyball,” said Gray “We maybe got a little complacent in the second and third sets but we made the adjustments needed in the fourth and fifth sets to push through and get the win that we all wanted so much,”
GAME RECAP
The Mustangs got out to a powerful start to the night, leading 7-2 early and would carry the play for the vast majority of the opening set, closing it out with a 25-14 win.
Lael Harrison and Rachel Gray would each post three kills in the opening set.
W?? END OF 1ST SET Rachel Gray finishes the first set W for the Mustangs with a POWERFUL kill. Western takes the opener 25-14.
The second set would be a bit tighter with Western taking the first three points of the set but McMaster would respond immediately with five straight points of their own to take a 5-3 lead. Both sides would exchange points through the midway point of the set. The Marauders would build momentum later in the set, opening up a 22-15 advantage and were looking like they would close out the set but the Mustangs would make a late push including a highlight reel rally that saw the Mustangs make three incredible digs to extend the set but McMaster would take the 25-20 win and even the match at 1-1.
The third set continued to be close with Western holding the biggest lead through the first half of the set at three points at 5-2 but another three-point lead wouldn’t open up until McMaster took a 13-10 lead later in the set. The Marauders maintained their slight lead later in the set at 20-16 but Western would get the next two points and force McMaster to call a timeout with the score at 20-18. McMaster would respond out of the timeout, taking four of the next five points and finishing it out the set 25-20 and taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set would continue the theme of close play early on, with neither side holding any more than a two-point lead through the first half of the set. The first multi-point advantage of the set came when Western opened up a 23-19 lead and forced McMaster to call a timeout. The Mustangs would finish the set on a 6-2 run and win the set 25-20, forcing a fifth set.
W?? END OF 4TH SET Western outlasts the Marauders and wins the fourth set 25-21 so we are going the distance tonight.
After McMaster opened the set with a service error, Western would take the first four points of the final set and force McMaster to make substitutions to reset the momentum. After the Mustangs took the next two points, opening up a 6-1 lead, the Marauders would call a time-out. After the Mustangs got the first point after the break, McMaster would get the next three points to cut the Western advantage to 7-4 and make the Mustangs call a timeout. The Marauders would rebound and bring the set to a 10-10 draw, later forcing Western to take a timeout after moving into a 13-12 lead. The intensity in Alumni Hall continued to ratchet up when Western took two points to move into a 15-14 lead and finished out the set when Ava Ebert blocked a kill attempt to win 16-14.
W?? FINAL MUSTANGS WIN!!!! Ava Ebert gets the block and the Mustangs take this one 3-2.
“We’ve gone through phases on this team where we have maybe relied on certain players, and I think this is one of the first years where everyone on the court and on our bench are contributing,” said Gray “We’ve got a lot of confidence in ourselves this year and it just feels great,”
The Mustangs take top spot in the OUA with the win and remain undefeated at 5-0.
“I think the name of the game for us right now is balance,” said Bartlett “If you try to game plan for us, who do you focus on? It could be a different player every night for us to take charge, and that will be one of our strengths all year long I think,”
NEXT GAME
Both sides return to action Saturday afternoon for a 2:00 pm start at Alumni Hall.
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