LONDON, Ont. – Fired up and looking for a perfect weekend record, the Queen's Gaels managed to take down the Western Mustangs in three sets (19-25, 24-26, 18-25) on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
 
The loss moves the Mustangs to 4-2 for the season, while the Gael record sits at 6-1 to put them behind only perennial powerhouse McMaster in the OUA standings.
 
"Our energy level was where it needed to be, but when it came to executing big moments we weren't there," said Western middle Mike Choja. "We weren't ready. A couple of times we had closed the gap to one point, and we weren't able to convert. It's definitely something to work on in practice, definitely a mentality that needs to change going forward."
 
"A place that I do think we did well in was bringing guys off the bench who made great contributions," Choja added. "Guys like Evan [Cranshaw], Bryn [Ramsay], came in and did a great job."
 
Leading the charge for the Mustangs was Gavin Taylor, who has been the purple and white point leader in all but one game thus far, as he recorded 14.5 points in the loss. Behind him was Choja who picked up nine points on Sunday.
 
Recording 16 kills and one service ace for 17 points, Marko Dakic topped the scoresheet and led the Gaels offence in the win.
 
Competitive from the first serve, no more than two points went unanswered from either team.
 
With an average height of 6-6, the Queen's starting six towered over the net to challenge the Mustang attack. Relying instead on roll shots and tips, a key element of the purple and white offence had been cut out.
 
"They were a pretty strong blocking team, and in a match like this it's pretty important, said setter Matt Hooker.
 
Remaining tight to the Gael score at 9-10, only Choja was able to consistently send out attacks with the usual ferocity. 
 
Heading into the technical at 13-16, the Mustangs continued to face the strongest opposition to date from the Gael front row.
 
Returning to the floor the Mustangs continued to struggle against the thriving Gaels. Overcorrecting and sending balls out of bounds, Western was forced into a time-out at 17-21 and again at 18-23.
 
Unable to hold off the Gaels, the first set was marked down as a Western loss at 19-25.
 
Back for the second set, the teams were again locked in a point-for-point exchange.
 
Despite briefly taking the lead at 6-5 with Chris Newcombe challenging the Gael service reception, Mustang errors soon put the purple and white back in a deficit.
 
Taylor, managing to find holes in the imposing Gael block, and the addition of Evan Cranshaw into the game brought the Mustangs within one point of Queen's before dropping down to 14-17.
 
Continuing to utilize proven attackers and touching almost every ball that made its way over to the purple and white end of the floor, Western and Queen's sported matching scores at 23-23.
 
Closing off the set on an unforced attack error, Western dropped the second frame 24-26.
 
Coming out swinging in the third, the Mustangs pushed out a quick few kills with Cranshawe, Taylor and Newcombe all leaving the Gaels looking off balance. At 5-3, the Mustangs had picked up their biggest lead of the game to that point.  
 
Queen's began to come back, tying the game at 10-10 and continually challenging the Western offence. Standing at 6-8, Scott Brunet was getting a piece of almost every ball sent over the net, while 2014 CIS Libero of the Year Ivo Dramov picked up anything that wasn't blocked.
 
Riding their momentum, Queen's continued to power through to 20-point mark where they held a five-point lead.
 
The Gaels sped through the remaining points to take the final set 18-25, and with it the match.
 
Looking forward to next week, the Mustangs are faced with a tough weekend taking to the road for games against McMaster on Friday and Waterloo on Saturday.
 
Squaring off against the only undefeated team in the OUA first before moving on to the 4-3 Warriors, Hooker argues that the key to winning will be tightening up the "serve and serve receive game."
 
"We need to serve a little tougher, put them in more awkward situations, pass the ball better, and stay in system a little more."