Box Score GUELPH, Ont. – After claiming second place on the OUA leaderboard on Friday night, the Mustangs closed out their regular season with a ninth straight win on Saturday, defeating the Guelph Gryphons in three straight sets (25-23, 25-13, 25- 23).

With the win, the Mustangs remain two points ahead of Waterloo- who also won their game on Saturday afternoon- securing second place heading into the OUA playoffs next week.

Garrett May led the Mustangs on offense with 12 kills while Craig Dixon held down the fort on defence with seven digs. On the Gryphons' side, Patrick Strzalkowski led the offense with a match-high 13 kills and Connor Cressman chipped in defensively with seven digs.

The Mustangs and Gryphons started off neck-in-neck during the first set all the way until the mid-point, when a service ace from Strzalkowski equalized the score at 11-11. Western came back from the tie and kept putting points on the board, thanks in large part to big kills from Garrett May and a service ace from Justin Scapinello. The Guelph team put some subs on the court but couldn't salvage the set, losing out to Western 25-23 because of service errors.

Western took a quick lead during the second set and controlled the court with kills, service aces and strong defence. By the technical time-out, the Mustangs were ahead 16-8 and continued to add points to the board before subbing in players, including Phil James, who added a service ace to help Western dominate the set 25-13.

The Gryphons didn't make it so easy in the third and final set of the match, keeping up to the Mustangs thanks to big kills and some attack errors. A kill by Garrett May was the turning point of the set and helped the Western team advance to a quick 24-19 lead. In the final moments of the set the Guelph team put up some kills, including one by Jordan MacIntyre, but despite closing the gap between the points the Mustangs took the set 25-23.

Western now gets set for the OUA Final Four as the team's second place standing earns them a bye directly into the OUA title tournament, which will be hosted by the first place McMaster Marauders on February 21 and 22.