GUELPH, Ont. – After losing the first set, the Mustangs came back to defeat the Guelph Gryphons in four sets (20-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-18) Friday evening at the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Center.
With the win, the Mustangs hold an 8-7 record and move up in the OUA rankings to a three-way tie for fifth place. Guelph also holds an 8-7 regular season record and shares the fifth place position with the Mustangs.
The Gryphons wasted no time after hitting the court for the first set, picking up a six-point lead early on at 1-7. With lots of height at the net, Guelph focused on cutting off the Mustang attacks.
Catching up with blocks of their own and a tighter defense, the Mustangs brought the score to 8-10 and forced the Gryphons into a timeout. Returning to the court, the Mustangs pushed out a series of points to match the Gryphons at 11-11.
Tacking back control of the set, Guelph continued to capitalize on height at the net to press the Mustangs back into a deficit at 15-19.
Ending the set at 20-25 was Guelph's Patrick Strzalkowski, whose kill finalized the score for the Gryphons.
Opening up with an exchange of points, the Mustangs were unwilling to allow the Gryphons to push them into another substantial deficit early on in the set. Still tied at 7-7, Western worked to hit around and over the towering blocks coming from the Gryphons.
Using a tight defense, the Mustangs pulled into the lead at 13-10. Starting middle Mike Choja was instrumental in extending the lead to five points at 20-15, as a series of blocks shut down the Gryphon offence.
Closing out the second set was Doug Austrom – who served though the final points of the set – and Gavin Taylor, who ended the set at 25-17 with a kill.
Starting out with a modest lead, the Mustangs soon had the Gryphons doubled at 8-4, and again at 14-7 as they continued to ride the momentum from the earlier set.
At 18-10, Guelph was forced into a timeout after they were continually unable to combat the blocks from Mustang middles Choja and Chris Newcombe, while also having trouble responding to attacks from Justin Scapinello.
With a kill from Choja, the Mustangs ended the third set 25-18.
Despite Guelph opening up the fourth set with two consecutive unforced errors, they stayed tight to the Mustang score and tied the set at 5-5. After exchanging points, the Gryphons took back control of the set at 7-9.
Racing ahead, the Mustangs were back in the lead at 16-12 thanks to the strategic setting from first year Matt Hooker.
Quickly powering through the final points of the match, the Mustangs won the final set 25-18 on a serving error from the Gryphons.
Scapinello topped the scoresheet with a game high 15 points from 12 kills, two service aces, and two assisted blocks. Choja followed close behind him recording 14 points from 12 kills and four assisted blocks. Joshua Green and Marc Wilson both led the Gryphon scoresheet with 12 points each.
The Mustangs are back in action Saturday, January 24 when they travel to Waterloo's Physical Activities Complex to face off against the Warriors. Game time is set for 8 p.m., with the match available online for streaming at OUA.tv.
