Western Mustangs defeat the Nipissing Lakers 3-1

The Western Mustangs took on the Nipissing Lakers yesterday at 6pm. This was their first match-up since February where the Mustangs went on to win both games and so the Lakers were looking for a win yesterday. 
 
Nipissing got on the board early with a service ace to start the game. They then went on to put four more points on the board. A service ace from Hannah Joo and a kill from Devin Gerth put them within one point of the Lakers. A few points later, Rachel Gray then found the far right corner of the court and equalised the points to 5-5. a few moments later, a block from Ava Ebert and Devin Gerth equalised the points to 12-12. The Lakers responded with a kill that found the middle of the court. The Mustangs pushed ahead by two points which made the score 17-19 to the Mustangs. The Mustangs got within one point of the set win after a net violation put the score at 18-24. The ball was then tipped over the net and the Mustangs were able to take the first set 19-25. 
 
The second set started with the Lakers getting a one-point lead like the previous set but the Mustangs equalised quickly. A kill from Devin Gerth put the Mustangs one point ahead. A few moments later after a long rally with digs from Hannah Joo and Devin Gerth, it was Lael Harrison who sent the ball into the far-left corner of the court to win the point. The two teams equalised at 11 points but a service ace from the Lakers put the Mustangs ahead. A timeout was called when the score reached 17-20 to the Lakers. Despite the few points lead, the Mustangs continued to catch up. After a dig by Hannah Joo, Rachel Gray sent a kill into the far end of the court to maintain the pressure on the Lakers. A few points later, the ball was tipped over the net by Claire Stewart who brought the Mustangs within two of the Lakers. A further net violation from the Lakers brought the Mustangs within one point. After a dig from Hannah Joo who sent the ball over to the Lakers’ side, too many touches from the Lakers equalises the score at 22-22. A ball that went out of bounds from the Lakers put the Mustangs ahead by one point which resulted in a timeout being called by Nipissing. Ebert was able to get the Mustangs the second set win with a block that found the far left of the court which made the final set score 23-25 to the Mustangs. 
 
The teams traded points early in the third set. The Lakers got a three-point lead but the Mustangs maintained the pressure on the team. A kill from Ava Ebert is received by the Lakers but it goes out of bounds when it is unable to be controlled. A few points later after the ball was kept alive by the Mustangs and sent over to the Lakers’ side, some miscommunication from the Lakers meant they had to tip the ball back over which allowed Ebert to get a kill. A double block from the Lakers pushed them to four points ahead of the Mustangs which meant a timeout was called by Western. The Mustangs gained some momentum in the latter part of the third set. A net violation from the Lakers put the score at 22-16 to Nipissing. The Mustangs kept the ball alive, Devin Gerth sent a kill over the net making sure the Mustangs didn’t fall to far behind the Lakers in the third set. Despite the team putting the pressure on the Lakers throughout the third set, a long serve gives the Lakers the set win with a final score of 25-21 to the Lakers. 
 
A service ace from Ava Ebert put the Mustangs on the board early. Another serve was sent over which the Lakers could not handle, which gave the Mustangs a two-point lead. Kills from Lael Harrison and Ava Ebert gave the Mustangs momentum in the fourth set. A double block from Thea Ishida and Ava Ebert put the Mustangs two points ahead with a score of 15-17 to the Mustangs. Despite the Lakers winning the first point after the timeout called, a kill from Lael Harrison gave the Mustangs some energy. A fantastic dig by Madeline Pelosi kept the ball alive, allowing the Mustangs to exchange the ball with the Lakers and eventually were able to win the point. The Mustangs got within two points of the win, causing the Lakers to call for a timeout. A double block put the Mustangs within one point of the win and eventually took the fourth set 19-25. 
 
When speaking with Head Coach Melissa Bartlett after the game, she explained that “they’re a young and really up and coming team. They were 3-1 coming into today. They’ve got two outstanding outside hitters so, to be honest I was kind of nervous because I thought they were going to come in today with nothing to lose. So, I was really happy with our week of preparation and even for the most part I think we played pretty solid today.”
 
When talking about what the conversation was like after that third set to get the momentum back in the fourth set, Coach Bartlett told us that “I think it was a mental lapse and a lot of our losing set three, credit to Nipissing they played well but a lot of it was our errors and those are the things we can control and something we discuss in post-game too. The game isn’t over until it’s over – you have to maintain that focus and that mental edge and that’s hard. That’s something we’re still developing as a team.” Looking ahead to today where the team meets Nipissing again at 4pm, Coach Bartlett went on to say that “I think we can clean up our serving. We really hit our serving targets efficiently in set one and I think through the rest of the match that was something we could’ve done better. In our gym we should always be good servers. That’s something we can talk about and then I think as well just focus on the things that worked. We showed a lot of offensive variety tonight which was really exciting to see, that we have the courage to implement some of the new things that we’ve been working on, so we want to see that again tomorrow.” 
 
The Mustangs meet with the Lakers again today at 4pm in Alumni Hall.