Western Mustangs beat the York Lions 3-0 in first game of the weekend

London, ON – The Western Mustangs faced the York Lions in their home opener yesterday at Alumni Hall. The Mustangs had a solid performance winning three straight sets and taking the match. The Mustangs play the Lions again Saturday night at 6pm at Alumni Hall. 
 
A short serve from the York Lions gave the first point to the Mustangs. A kill from Devin Gerth sent the ball flying towards the Lions which they were unable to handle, giving the second point to the Mustangs. 
 
The Mustangs pushed ahead, but the Lions were able to equalise. A service ace put them one point ahead of the Mustangs at 5-6. After a serve from Western’s Ella St. Martin is received by the Lions both teams work to keep the ball alive but a block from the Lions goes out of bounds giving the point to the Mustangs. 
 
With one point to go before the first set, a serve from Ava Ebert hit the hands of one of the York Lions players, sending it out of bounds and giving the Mustangs the first set 25-22. 
 
Hannah Joo tapped the ball over the net after a serve from Western to find an empty spot giving the Mustangs an early lead in the second set. A few points later, Claire Stewart sends a ball towards the Lions where it went off their hands and out of bounds. The Mustangs lead 4-0. 
 
Too many touches gave the Mustangs a 13-9 score and a timeout was called by the Lions. A kill from the York Lions got them one point closer after the timeout and they were quickly able to equalise the score. A ball into the net from the Mustangs gave the Lions the lead, but only temporarily. 
 
A ball set by Hannah Joo is sent over the net by Devin Gerth, goes off one of the York hands and out of bounds making the final score of the second set 25-22. 
 
The Mustangs took an early point lead in the third set. Rachel Gray put the ball in the far end of the court getting a service ace and firing up the crowd in Alumni Hall. Despite points won by the Lions in the third set, the Mustangs maintained the lead the whole time. Lael Harrison’s serve hit the net, but still went over, which caught the Lions off guard, and they were unable to return it. 
 
A couple if balls going into the net and out of bounds gave two points to the Lions, and another point to the Lions caused a timeout from the Mustangs. However, despite York making some progress towards the end of the third set, they were unable to catch up with the Mustangs and the Western Mustangs took the third set 25-21, to make it 3 straight.
 
The two teams meet again today at 6pm in Alumni Hall. 
 
After the game, speaking to Head Coach Melissa Bartlett she told us that “as a team we are really focused on more aggressive serving and really being willing to take risks and it absolutely came through. As coaches and as a team we are so happy with that and that’s going to be something that we need to carry forwards against really strong opponents”. Looking ahead to today’s game when we spoke with Bartlett yesterday, she went on to explain that “we did a good job. We were in control of the match pretty much start to finish. That’s hard to do and that’s a good team. That’s a team that was in the final four last year so it’s always fun to see what adjustments they might make, what adjustments we can make. The benefit of being at home is we can watch a little film and probably change up our serves a little bit that’s something I think we can do a little bit better.”
 
Speaking to Hannah Joo, Mustangs Women’s Volleyball team member, she explained that “I think coming off two games where we had to fight to have the energy in the match and it was ups and downs. Like, five sets – super long. It was a refreshing break for us to take that energy from the beginning and continue pushing all the way and finish it nice short and sweet versus the usual like 2+ hours games that we’ve had.”