LONDON, Ont. - It's the final regular season homestand for Western's men's and women's volleyball teams.

In addition to hosting Seniors Night - Friday Jan. 29 against Windsor for the women at 6 p.m. and Saturday Jan. 30 against Guelph at 8 p.m. for the men - Alumni Hall will welcome fans in by donation to raise fund for the Haitian Relief Funds with the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

On Jan. 29 against the Lancers, fans wearing white to either the women's 6 p.m. game or men's 8 p.m. get in by donation at Alumni Hall.

The women's team will honour seniors Sarah Lowry (Calgary), Jenna Thomson (St. Marys, Ont.), Jacqueline Robinson (Vancouver), Sara Farrell (London, Ont.) and Nicole Smyrnios (London, Ont.) against Windsor, too.

"I think I figured out that our magic number is four to just make the playoffs," said Western women's volleyball head coach Dean Lowrie. "Whether that's getting help somewhere else or with us winning four games, it's going to be really competitive in the final weeks."

And with five games to go on the schedule, Lowrie's team has a magic number of five to host a home playoff game.

"Basically, if we control our own future, we need to win out to finish second and host a playoff game," Lowrie said.

Senior Farrell is recently back from a broken-hand injury and has made an instant impact with the team.
Overall the seniors have had a major impact on Western's recent success, three straight wins over Lakehead, Wilfrid Laurier and Waterloo in straight-set fashion.

"You know those good recruits will help you down the road and they are very talented and have done very well in their rookie year, but you just cannot replace experience at this level," Lowrie said. "They are so much more calm under fire."

Lowrie said the seniors' play will be key down the stretch. But the depth with 18 players on the roster has paid dividends for Lowrie's squad. He said in addition to making practices more competitive, they have helped to fill in admirably when vets have gone down due to injury or illness.

"You know we were hit with a bout with the H1N1 virus in the first semester, and with the injuries we've had, a recent bout of Norwalk, it's been massive to have the young players step up," Lowrie said "No one is complaining about the numbers."

Lowrie highlighted the great play of freshman Rebecca Oxland (Vancouver) who he said has proved to Lowrie and the coaching staff why she was such a  top recruit.

"We recruited her here to set, but she's also serving for us and playing defence for us," Lowrie said. "When Nicole (Smyrnios) got sick in Thunder Bay and Rebecca stepped in to set, she proved she's an athlete and she's a player."

"Then there's freshman Jennifer Pierce (Oakville, Ont.), who hasn't played a lot for us, but her personality is great, good attitude and she's so athletic and has great passing skills."

Western's women close out their schedule facing Windsor and Guelph at home this weekend before travelling to play Queen's, RMC and Waterloo.

The men will honour their seniors class on Jan. 30 against Guelph in what should be a great game. Western faces two teams fighting for playoff positioning and knows its 10-game winning streak will be tested on the weekend.

Mustangs men's volleyball head coach Jim Sage said the final weekend at home offers "two huge games" before a tough road swing which includes difficult games at McMaster, Queen's and Waterloo, a match against an unpredictable Toronto team, and a road match at Royal Military College.

"There is really good competition ahead," Sage said.

This year's playoff format gives the first-place team a bye through to the semifinals where they will host the winner of the fifth place at fourth place quarter-final in a single elimination game.

"The format is much shorter this year and then going to the CIS championships you're not dead tired," Sage said. "There's no longer the best two-out-of-three. It's a good change."

In the other quarter-finals, seventh place plays at second place and sixth place at fifth, with the winners of those quarter-finals meeting in other OUA semifinal to be hosted by the highest remaining seed.

Sage said the weekend with Windsor and Guelph will be a challenge but crucial to positioning with home-court advantage.

"With Windsor we'll face a scrappy bunch, and sometimes other teams don't get motivated to play them," Sage said. "For us, we really need to be focussed and ready because they've caught other teams off guard."

Sage said the Guelph game will likely be a classic test.

"They beat McMaster and we had a very intense match with them at Guelph at the end of 2009," Sage said in reference to the Mustangs 3-1 win in a match featuring all closely contested sets. "Guelph is a dynamic offensive team with the potential to be a good blocking team."

"We're playing for the first-round bye and for first place and the home playoff advantage that comes with it," Sage said. "Every match from here on in will dictate whether we're able to achieve that. Just one loss could decide who gets first place."