LONDON, Ont. – Ending their winning steak at four games, the Mustangs fell to the Guelph Gryphons 3-1 this evening at Alumni Hall.

"We just weren't consistent," says coach Jim Sage. "We tried to string points together. We'd get on for a little bit, and then miss a serve which really hurts our momentum, which is disappointing. Guelph really came in with a good game plan. They executed, and didn't shoot themselves in the foot whereas with our errors through the service line and hitting. You just aren't going to win those tight games when you make errors late in the sets."
 
The match brings the Mustang's season record to 4-1, while Guelph also sits at 4-1 on the season.

Starting off the first set by exchanging points, the Gryphons began to pull ahead by exploiting holes in the Mustangs defensive play. Unwilling to allow a substantial point differential, Western followed closely behind until consecutive aces from Zachary Newman widened the point gap to 18-14.
 
The Mustangs briefly stalled the Gryphons at 23 points after a kill from Justin Scapinello and a subsequent blocking error, but were unable to prevent Guelph from scoring the two points needed to end the set at 25-23.
 
The Gryphons opened up the second set with an early four point lead, but were unable to shake the Mustangs off as they quickly tied up the score at 7-7. With Western taking a two point lead, the Gryphons were forced into a time out at 9-7. Despite maintaining the two point lead for much of the set, Guelph rallied and refocused their defense to tie up the score at 20-20.
 
Unwilling to allow the Gryphons to advance past 21 points, the Mustangs won the set on two consecutive aces from Scapinello. Moment earlier, Scapinello had hammered out consecutive kills to bring the final score to 25-21.
 
Guelph once again began the set with an early lead and soon had the Mustangs doubled at 6-12. Working their way back from the deficit, the Mustangs slowly approached the Gryphon score.

After closing the gap to 22-22, Western struggled to maintain accuracy in attacks and blocks while Guelph capitalized on defensive errors ending the third set 24-26.
 
Continuing the established trend of Guelph taking an early lead, the Gryphons pounded out a four point differential that left the Mustangs trailing 4-0. Closing the gap at 12-12 after consecutive errors by Guelph, Western pulled ahead after focusing on serving consistency and blocking by middle Mike Choja to bring the score to 16-14 in favour for the purple and white. 
 
With a kill from Newman, Guelph tied up the score at 18-18, and again at 19-19. Neither team willing to allow a loss, the score was again tied at 23-23. Ending on a block from Joshua Green and Patrick Strzalkowski, Guelph took the final set 25-27.
 
For the fifth consecutive game Mustang veteran Scapinello topped the score sheet with 34.5 total points, from 30 kills, two aces, and two blocks. Patrick Strzalkowski of the Gryphons recorded the second highest number of points in the match with 15, while Joshua Green and Chris Newcombe each recorded 13.5.
 
The Mustangs next play on Wednesday, November 5 in Windsor, with game time set for 8:00 p.m. They then take a break until November 21 when they will return to action on home court.