LONDON, Ont. – After winning the first two sets the Western Mustangs were unable to hold off a comeback from the Queen's Gaels, with the purple and white losing in five sets (27-25, 29-27, 20-25, 14-25, 8-15) on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
 
"I think it was an entertaining match, both teams played well. Obviously, we played better towards the start and Queen's played better towards the end, but it was really high-level volleyball and a match that will make us better down the road," said Western head coach Melissa Bartlett.
 
The loss moves Western to 4-1 on the season, and puts the team into a three-way tie with McMaster and Windsor atop the OUA West Division Standings. Queen's improves their record to 3-4 on the year, and are tied for fourth in the East with York.
 
Along with their spot in first place, the Mustangs are off to their best start in over five years, as not since the 2009-10 team has Western started the year with four wins in their first five regular season contests. In fact, prior to today's game they were the first Mustangs team to start the year at 4-0 since the 2005 team that lost only two regular season games.

"4-1 is a great start, we'd love to be 5-0, but I think the girls have a lot to be proud of because we have started well and played against some tough teams. We're obviously going to look to improve on that next weekend," said Bartlett.

For the fourth-time in five games Aja Gyimah led the Mustangs offence, recording a career-high 21.5 points off of 16 kills, one service ace, one solo block and nine assisted blocks. Serena Smith, Taylor Beedie, and Candice Scott also scored in the double digits for Western, registering 16, 13, and 11 points respectively. The purple and white defence was led by the duo of Katherine Tsiofas and Emma Somerville with 15 and 12 blocks each.
 
Shannon Neville led the way on the other side of the court, scoring 21.5 points for the Gaels thanks to 19 kills, one ace, and three assisted blocks. Close behind was Victoria Wensley with 18 points, while both Makayla Keith and Caroline Livingston hit double figures with 14.5 and 13 points. Neville also topped the Queen's defensive charts, getting 16 digs, tying her with libero Becky Wilson who also had 16 digs on Sunday.
 
In front of a boisterous home crowd, one that featured a number of their fellow Mustangs student-athletes, Western didn't waste much time before taking control of the first set, building to a 10-3 advantage before holding a 16-9 edge at the technical timeout. Momentum swung to the Gaels side following the timeout, going on a 5-1 run to force the Mustangs into a timeout of their own.
 
Queen's continued to pull closer, closing the gap to only one on four different occasions before tying things up at 24-24. After both teams traded points, the Mustangs closed out the set at 27-25 on a block from Gyimah.
 
The close play carried over into the early stages of the second set, with neither team holding a sizeable advantage. Western began to pull away midway through, taking a 16-10 lead at the technical timeout.
 
Similar to the first set the Gaels turned the tables on the Mustangs following the timeout, going on a 9-4 run to force Western into a timeout. 
 
Queen's took the lead at 20-21, and again mirroring the first set both teams traded points, with tie scores scores all the way from 23-23 to 27-27, until Western claimed the set with a 29-27 win.
 
Unlike the first two sets, it was the Gaels who took the lead in the third, putting the Mustangs down 5-10 early on. Western began to comeback midway through the set, with Taylor Beedie going on an extended serving run to take a 16-14 lead at the technical timeout.
 
Unfortunately for the Mustangs the Gaels took control following the timeout, going on a 10-4 run to hand the Mustangs a 20-25 defeat in the third.

Queen's momentum continued into the fourth, with the Mustangs down 9-16 at the technical timeout. Well placed serves from the Gaels kept the visiting side in control following the timeout, giving them the fourth set at 14-25.

The Gaels continued to roll early on in the fifth, taking the lead at 1-4 and forcing Western to call a timeout. Western turned their momentum around after the timeout, pulling to within one at 4-5 and forcing the Gaels to call a timeout of their own.

Western cut the Queen's lead to only a single point at 7-8, however that would be as close as things would get as the Gaels scored 7 of the next eight points to claim the set 8-15 and the match.

"I think a loss like this can be really motivating, especially when you know you're coming up against a better team [in McMaster]. I'm sure we'll get back to it, practice hard on Tuesday, and just reset for next weekend."
 
Next up for the Mustangs are a pair of away contests against the McMaster Maruaders and Waterloo Warriors on November 21 and 22. Game time for both nights is set for 6 p.m.