Western Mustangs take three straight sets for a win over the York Lions

The Western Mustangs met with the York Lions at 8pm on Friday Nov 17 in front of a large home crowd for the first time this season. The team dominated the game, winning all three sets and taking home the win. 
 
York got on the board early after a serve from Kendall Homenick was received by the Lions, sent back over and went out of bounds, off the hand of a Mustang. After a long rally, a diving save from Owen Kelly keeps the ball alive with the Mustangs eventually winning the point. The packed crowd in Alumni Hall gives the team energy early on in the game as the Mustangs see 11-5 on the board. 
 
Blake Fenwick sent a kill down into the centre of the court, finding an empty spot after a serve from Jason Guy is received by the Lions. This caused a timeout from the Lions. After the timeout, the Lions worked to close the gap between the two teams on the scoreboard, but a kill from Jason Guy brought the Mustangs within three points of the first set win. 
 
A long serve from the Lions gives the Mustangs the first set with a score of 25-16. 
 
A double block from Amit Sayal and Jonah Millard found the far-left side of the court and the Lions were unable to return the ball making the score 2-0 early on. A few points later, after the ball is kept alive by Owen Kelly, the ball was sent out of bounds by the Lions making the score 7-5. Kills from Blake Fenwick and Jason Guy pushed the Mustangs ahead in points. 
 
A net violation pushed the Mustangs within two points of the win and Kendall Homenick won the set for the Mustangs after tapping the ball over the net. The final score for the set was 25-19. 
 
The York Lions tried to find their stride early in the third set, gaining a lead of two points over the Mustangs. But too many touches from the York Lions equalised the points to 4-4. A block from Kendall Homenick and Jason Guy then found the far end of the court putting the Mustangs ahead in points. And after the Mustangs moved a few more points ahead in this third set pushing the score to 9-5, the Lions called a time out. 
 
A big dig from the Lions and a kill from Blake Fenwick brought the Mustangs two points ahead of the Lions and a net violation pushed them to 17-14. A few points later, the ball was set by Josiah Esau and killed by Kendall Homenick making the score 23-21. A timeout was then called again, after which a short serve from the Lions put the Mustangs within one point of the win. But a serve from the Lions snuck over and equalised the score extending the set. The teams traded points with a York serve going out of bounds making it 26-26. A ball from Kendall Homenick went off the hands of a York player equalising again at 27-27. The ball then went off the hands of the York Lions after they are unable to control the ball, giving the Mustangs the final set in a dramatic end to the game. 
 
The two teams meet again on Sat Nov 18 at 8pm in Alumni Hall. 
 
When speaking to Head Coach Jim Sage after the game, he explained that “we’re really focusing on execution, looking after our own side of the court, communicating. We weren’t sure what they were going to set up as and then one of their players wasn’t here and we’re going ‘Uh oh’. We said ‘be ready for that’. They made some adjustments in that third set too. We said ‘be ready for that’. I think for the most part they were pretty well prepared for that.” He went on to say that “there were some good learning lessons there with York coming back in the third and putting a lot of pressure on us. It would’ve been a different match if they had won that. The good thing is that we won it and we still get that learning lesson and hopefully that it won’t repeat if it gets to that tomorrow – we’ll be able to prevail. First time on the road for them and I knew they’d struggle a little bit. A lot of their guys have never been in this gym before cause they’re a young team, so I think they’ll be better tomorrow because they’ll be a little bit more used to the environment. Hopefully we’ll get another big crowd again. That was an awesome crowd.”