HAMILTON, Ont. – Taking on the strongest team in the OUA and arguably the CIS, the Mustangs struggled against the power of the McMaster Marauders, losing in three sets (13-25, 22-25, 12-25) at Burridge Gymnasium.
 
The win allows McMaster to stay perfect at 8-0, while Western moves to 4-3 on the season.
 
Zeid Hamadeh posted the highest numbers on the Mustang scoresheet, picking up seven points. Mike Choja, Doug Austrom, and Chris Newcombe came in behind with five each.
 
With 14 points on the night from eight kills, three service aces, and three solo blocks, London native Andrew Richards led the takedown of his hometown Mustangs.
 
As expected, McMaster came out swinging right away with a rapid fire offence and towering blocks that prevented the Mustangs from reciprocating. Doubling the purple and white score at 5-10, the Marauders were picking up points in every area of the game.
 
The Marauder blocks continued to dominate after returning to the floor from the technical timeout, leaving the Mustangs trailing 7-16. With both Danny Demyanenko and Richards in the front row, McMaster allowed few Western balls to cross the net.
 
On the purple and white end of the court, serve reception was arguably the strongest part of the Mustang game in the first set. Wasting no time, McMaster sped through the final points of the set to end with a 13-25 win.
 
With a stronger start to the second set, the Mustangs fought to stay tight to the Marauder score at 4-5. Unwilling to allow Western any advantage, McMaster had soon added another four points to double the Mustang score.
 
Austrom and Newcombe arguably made the biggest impact in the second set as the duo were able to successfully out-maneuver the Marauder block. Austrom found success in hitting the ball off the hands of McMaster blockers, whereas 6-8 Newcombe was able to avoid contact all together.
 
Closing the point difference to just one point at 11-12, the Mustangs began to challenge the home side for the first time all game. The Mustangs continued their hot streak coming out of the technical, taking their first lead of the night at 19-18, Western forced McMaster into a timeout.
 
Still tight at 22-23, the Mustangs were unable to close out the set on top. Quickly moving through the final two points, McMaster took the second set 22-25.
 
The third set began much like the first, with the Marauders picking up a fast lead at 5-11 after cutting out the line and net violations that began to send them into a downward spiral in the second.
 
Hitting the technical timeout with a nine-point lead, the Marauders were back in first set form. While their blocks no longer completely prevented the Mustangs from putting balls over the net, the Marauder attack continued to be nearly undefendable.
 
While Western briefly stalled McMaster at 24 points, they were unable to make up the difference before the Marauders could send out a final kill to mark the third and final set as a 12-25 loss for the Mustangs.
 
The Mustangs are back in action tomorrow night, when they take on the Waterloo Warriors at the Physical Activities Complex. Scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., the match can be streamed live on OUA.tv.