HAMILTON, Ont. - In the fifth and deciding set of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Final Four, Toronto fourth-year outside hitter Karlee Diesing (Coquitlam, B.C.) smashed four kills to lead the Varsity Blues to a 15-12 victory over the Western Mustangs in the OUA semifinal match at the Burridge Gymnasium.

In fitting fashion, Diesing finished out the fifth set with a service ace that hit the net tape and fell between two Mustang defenders.

Diesing finished the game with 13 kills and 21 digs and was named the Mikasa player of the match for Toronto.

It was a bizarre game with a fire alarm and noticable shifts in momentum.

The Varsity Blues, the first place team in the OUA East with a 14-5 record in the regular season will face the host McMaster Marauders, the first place finishers in the OUA West Division with a 16-3 record in the OUA Final tomorrow at the Burridge Gymnasum. Western faces Queen's for bronze at 4 p.m. on Feb. 27 at Burridge Gymnasium.

In an earlier match, the Marauders defeated Queen's 3-1 (25-15, 25-21, 18-25, 25-13) to advance to the OUA Final for the fourth consecutive year.

In the first set, Toronto took a 8-6 lead into the first technical timeout.  Western rallied to take a 16-15 advantage coming into the second technical timeout. Mustangs outside hitter Elaine Screaton (Calgary) lauched three service aces to give Western a 22-17 lead late in the match before Western junior middle blocker Sarah Johnston (Stratford, Ont) closed out the set with a tip over a Toronto blocker to give Western the 20-25 victory.

The second set Toronto took the first point and never relinquished the lead earning a 25-20 win to even the match. 

In set three, Western opened with a 15-9 lead, but Toronto battled back to tie the score at 18 on the strength of two Diesing kills and blocks from Shannon Rossall (Calgary) and Heather Bansley (Waterdown, Ont) blocks. Toronto would outscore Western 7-3 to close out the game 25-21 and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five contest.

In the fourth set, Toronto opened up with 6-2 lead, but Western rallied to score five consecutive points to tied the game at seven coming into the first technical time-out.  Toronto again surged, with OUA first-team all-star Kristina Valjas (Toronto) pounding out five kills to give the Varsity Blues a 16-13 edge coming into the second technical time-out.  

Western again closed the gap to tie the score at 17 and 20, and would score the next five points highlighted by two double blocks by Sara Farrell (London, Ont) and setter Sarah Lowry (Calgary)  to give Western the 20-25 victory.

Freshman and OUA West Libero of the Year Claire Morrow (London, Ont) was named the Mizuno player of the game for the Mustangs.  Morrow had 17 digs for the Mustangs.

Western fourth-year setter and OUA West first-team all-star Jenna Thomson (St. Marys, Ont) finshed the match with 43 assists. Caleigh Whitaker (Sharon, Ont) had 15 kills, and 21 digs, while Screaton added 10 kills and 21 digs for the Mustangs.

Toronto OUA first-team all-star and fifth-year senior Kristina Valjas had a game high 17 kills.  Fellow OUA first team all-star and fifth year senior, Heather Bansley added 15 kills and 22 digs.