Box Score LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs women’s volleyball team fought a hard battle against the Ottawa Gee-Gees Sunday afternoon in Alumni Hall in the final game of their season opening weekend. The Mustangs fell short losing to Ottawa in three close sets to split their opening weekend games.
Set scores were 23-25, 26-28, 22-25
Right side attacker Stephanie Krueter led the Mustangs with 10 kills on only 18 attempts while committing no errors. Captain Rebecca Oxland had 10 kills on 33 attempts and earned 13 points in a three set match. Close behind were middle player Danielle Marshall with 8.5 points followed by left side Serena Smith with 6.5 points.
Despite the loss Western head coach Dave Edwards was pleased with the way his team played.
“Ottawa is ranked sixth in the country, they are a strong team. We were very competitive today, we were down almost 12 points and then came back and only lost 28-26. We are here to compete and today we really showed a lot of character. Obviously we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted, but there are a lot of points to be earned still, it is a long season.”
The Mustangs were amped up after Saturday’s straight sets victory over Brock and entered the court with confidence. The Gee-Gees managed to earn the first couple points of the set but that didn’t last for long. The Mustangs were sure to keep Ottawa on their toes keeping the match point for point while Oxland caught the Gee-Gees off guard tipping the ball to tie the match 5-5. Fighting for every point, Krueter made a huge block pushing the Mustangs ahead 8-7 forcing Ottawa to call a time out. The Mustangs kept a gentle lead of 10-7 before the Gee-Gees made sure the match returned to a point for point affair. The Gee-Gees managed to climb to 24 points while the Mustangs only trailed behind at 23. Ottawa just snuck by defeating Western 25-23.
The second set started off with some long rallies. The Gee-Gees raced ahead to lead 7-1. Despite the large lead the Mustangs were not letting the Gee-Gees earn their points easily, and Western eventually closed the gap to 21-19 forcing Ottawa to call a time out. The Mustangs kept inching up behind the Gee-Gees making the set again a point-for-point affair at 24-23. Western scored two consecutive points to take the lead by one, however the Gee-Gees would eventually come away with a 28-26 set victory.
Although down two sets, the Mustangs started off the third frame leading 4-0. Western maintained a slight lead before Ottawa tied the set 8-8 and the two teams would continue to go back and forth for the next few points. The Gee-Gees pushed ahead led by Karina Krueger Schwanke who finished the day with 17 attacks on 37 attempts and 20 points in a three set match. The Mustangs kept things close throughout the remainder of the set but fell just a few points shorts with Ottawa winning 25-22.
Next up for the Mustangs are the Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. in Toronto.
