LONDON, Ont. – With only one loss this season, the Western Mustangs (15-1) secured a spot in the OUA semi-finals this afternoon with a 3-0 win over the York Lions (6-8) at Alumni Hall.

Set scores were 25-13, 25-17 and 25-17.

FULL BOX SCORE

Western held York to only 13 points in the first set, indicative of what was to come. Both teams had 26 total attacks in set one, but Western connected with the hardwood 11 times, compared to only 6 times for their counterpart. Mathieu Poulin, Garrett May and Phil James each had an ace in the set.

In set two, the Mustangs held a sizable lead over the Lions with a score of 16-10 at the first break. By the end of the set, Western had gained two more points in the spread winning 25-17 on a nicely placed roll shot from May. May and Poulin each had five kills. Marko Dakic had five kills for the Lions.

The third set saw James serve six in a row for the Mustangs before relinquishing the side out to the Lions. Attack errors for both teams increased along with much longer rallies than usual. Service errors from each team put the score at 16-8 in favour of the Mustangs at the technical timeout. The teams traded blocks for a couple points before second-year Mustang Doug Austrom powered through the Lions block for a kill and the final point in the match. The Mustangs took the third set 25-17.

Poulin led the Mustangs for the second match in a row with 13 points (12 kills, 1 ace, 1 dig). May had 10 points (9 kills, 1 ace, 5 digs) and Sean McKay 28 assists.

Dakic had seven points for the Lions (7 kills, 2 digs).

The Mustangs honoured graduating players Poulin and Waite at today’s game. Collectively the due has contributed 997 kills and 1265 total points in 384 sets over the past four years.

Western travels to Kingston next weekend, February 4 and 5, for games against Queen’s and RMC before returning to Alumni to host the Final Four OUA Tournament on Feb. 24 and 25.