Box Score LONDON, Ont. – Western's men's volleyball team was victorious over the Waterloo Warriors in their first regular season game of the year as they toppled the Warriors 3-2 on Friday evening at Alumni Hall. The Mustangs, now 1-0 on the season, took the exciting five-set match with scores of 21-25, 25-21, 26-28, 29-27, and 15-8.
 
"The guys showed a lot of heart. That match had a couple of turning points in it," said Mustangs head coach Jim Sage. "A lot of those sets could have gone either way and we did a good job of taking care of business."
 
Leading the Mustangs in the 3-2 victory was Justin Scapinello with 18 kills, seven digs and one service ace, and Phil James with 17 kills and two digs. Leading the team defensively were Doug Austrom with eight digs and Garrett May with seven digs.
 
The Warriors took an early lead in the first set, but thanks to Waterloo service errors and huge blocks from Austrom and Luke Sim, the Mustangs were able to pull away to a three-point advantage at 13-10, forcing the Warriors to call their first timeout of the match. Although the Mustangs extended their lead to five points, causing Waterloo to call their second timeout, the Warriors were able to side-out after the break and eventually gain momentum to take a 19-16 lead. Waterloo would not let up for the rest of the set as they were first to 25 with a score of 25-21.
 
In the second set Western took an early lead as they were first to five and 10 before Waterloo called their third and final timeout of the set at 19-13. The Mustangs lead was cut to just two points after Waterloo scored five unanswered points, forcing the purple and white to call their first timeout of the match at 20-18. Despite a strong Waterloo push, the Mustangs would not let the Warriors back into the game as they took the second set 25-21 with Western rookie Gavin Taylor contributing the set-winning kill.
 
Although the third set once again saw the Mustangs start strong and maintain the advantage throughout the majority of the set the Warriors went on a late run to tie the game 20-20. The teams would go point for point with Western twice taking the game-point advantage at 24-23 and 26-25 until a strong offensive burst and a questionable line call allowed Waterloo to close out the set 28-26.   
 
In the fourth set both teams fought to take more than a two-point lead as the two squads traded points. Although Western managed to take a 23-20 advantage, the Warriors continued to push and a three-point Waterloo run tied the game 23-23. Both teams continued to fight for every point until a perfectly executed Western service reception gave Phil James the kill and the Mustangs the game-point advantage at 28-27. This time they would not allow the Warriors to respond as they took the next point and the set 29-27 to tie the match and force a fifth and final set.
 
The Mustangs dominated the final set, leading 8-2 as the teams switched sides at the halfway mark and never letting up as they took the set 15-8 with a huge game-winning kill by James to end the match.
 
Sage says that the team has a lot to work on but showed improvement even throughout the match. "We were able to run our middle more towards the last part of the match and from last year I've seen a remarkable improvement in our blocking," he said.
 
The Mustangs are back on the court on Saturday evening when they match up against the McMaster Marauders at 8:00 p.m. at Alumni Hall in their second match of the season. Fans can watch all of the action live on Mustangs TV.