TORONTO – Ending their debut weekend, the nationally ranked Mustangs dropped a tight five set match to the York Lions at the Tait MacKenzie Gymnasium on October 24. With the loss, Western's record sits at 1-1, while York posts 2-0.
 
Gavin Taylor led the way again for Western, topping the purple and white end of the scoresheet with 17 points from 14 kills, one service ace, one solo block, and a pair of assisted blocks. Coming in behind him was Mike Choja who picked up 12.5 points.
 
The Mustangs took control of the game early on, picking up lengthy point runs that the Lions struggled to prevent. Heading into the technical timeout, there was a six-point advantage for the purple and white.
 
Returning to the floor, the Mustangs continued to outscore York, rolling to a 25-18 first set victory.
 
Back on the floor for the second set, it appeared as if the Lions began to pick up on the purple and white tricks. This time York had the advantage heading into the technical timeout at 7-16.
 
Despite matching the point advances made by the Lions, Western was unable to eclipse York's score. The second set ended with the Mustangs down 18-25.
 
Looking for a comeback in the third set, the Mustangs managed to keep York at an arm's length with a 16-11 lead heading into the technical time-out.
 
However, the Lions seemed to have a different idea. Clawing their way near the Mustang score the Lions retaliated with a strong attack. The third set ended with Western up by only two points at 25-23.  
 
The fourth set saw York take control early on, picking up four points before the Mustangs were able to get on the board. While the size of their lead varied throughout the set, the Mustangs were never able to match or overcome the score put up by the Lions.
 
At the technical time-out, the York lead remained intact at 14-16.
 
Back on the floor, the Mustangs managed to close the point margin to one at 18-19, but soon fell back into a three-point difference at 18-21. Unable to catch York's lead, the fourth set closed at 21-25.
 
York came out swinging in the final set of the match, picking up a 5-8 lead over the Mustangs. Unwilling to go down without a fight, the purple and white score matched that of York at 8-8. The score was again tied at 10-10.
 
Down by two at 11-13, the Mustangs headed into a time-out. Returning to the court, the purple and white were only able to take one point off the Lions.
 
Unable to catch-up, Western fell 12-15 as the fourth and final set came to a close.
 
The Mustangs are back on the court October 30, when they head to Guelph to take on the Gryphons at the W.F. Mitchell Centre. The game is scheduled to begin at 8pm, following a match-up between the Western and Guelph women's volleyball teams. Fans can catch all the action live at OUA.tv.