LONDON, Ont. – In their last home court appearance of 2015, the Mustangs pulled out a 3-1 victory (25-14, 21-25, 25-16, 25-22) over the Brock Badgers to move to 6-2 on the season. Brock's record sits at 1-8, and they're now stuck in a four game losing streak.
 
"That wasn't our best team performance, we made a lot of unforced errors," admitted Mustangs head coach Melissa Bartlett. "But it was also a great opportunity to get players some experience. Overall, we're happy with the win."
 
Aja Gyimah continued to lead the team in scoring, picking up 14.5 points on 12 kills, one ace, and three assisted blocks. Kelsey Veltman, in her first game back returning from an injury, came in just behind with 12.5 points.
 
Keeping Western competitive in the backcourt was Serena Smith, whose 12 digs led both sides of the scoresheet.
 
With 9 points, former OUA All-Rookie Abby Jenkins led the Brock offense while Karlinna O'Leary's seven digs led the team defensively.
 
Opening up the first set with lots of back and forth, Brock had come out with a level of play that far surpassed their season record. With the score ties at 8-8, the Badger line was hitting harder than expected and finding holes in the Mustang defense. But Western was able to pull ahead and outscore the Badgers 8-2, heading into the technical with a six-point lead.
 
The Mustangs continued to thrive back on the floor, with Taylor Beedie leading the charge at the net, and fired through the final points to end the set with a 25-14 victory.
 
The second set saw a fast takeoff by Brock with their blockers dominating the floor. Despite edging out the Mustangs early on with a 7-10 lead, the Badgers struggled with serving throughout the set and more than doubled the number of errors. On the Western half of the court, it was attack errors that would see a substantial increase.
 
Heading into the technical, the Mustangs were facing a four-point deficit. When the teams returend to floor, the first three points picked up by the Badgers all came off purple and white errors. Briefly stalling, through ultimately unable to hold off the Brock advance, Western was able to put up an additional few points before a final attack error handed the set to Brock at 21-25. 
 
The Badgers again picked up an early lead in the third, but were quickly overtaken by the Mustangs. Tying at 5-5, four consecutive Brock errors pushed up the Mustang score. Immediately retaliating, the Badgers went on a matching four point run of their own. But the Mustangs regained control of the set just before the technical and managed to carry the momentum through the break.
 
The remained of the set could be described as a series of Mustang point runs, only briefly interrupted by a Mustang error to award Brock a point. Ending on an error from the Brock half of the court, the Mustangs took the third set 25-16.
 
The fourth set saw Brock play their best set of the night, challenging the Mustangs both offensively and defensively. Trading control of the game – and with it, the lead – back and forth early on, the score was tied at 7-7 and again at 11-11.
 
Veltman and Gyimah controlled the net, breaking out of the pattern with a seven-point run. Closing a number of blocks together as well as individually firing out a series of kills.
 
Hitting the 20-point mark with a six-point cushion, the Mustangs began to ease off the gas.
 
Stopped at 23, Brock would put up seven points in the time it took Western to send out the final two.
 
Regardless of the shifting momentum, Western was able to take the win at 25-22.
 
The Mustangs are back on the floor Saturday night, when they head down to Windsor to take on the Lancers for a second time. The game is scheduled to begin at 5pm.
 
"We're expecting them to go hard on us, as always," said Veltman about the upcoming match. "They're a really good team, and they've been improving lately. We've been working really hard to prepare, practicing everything we can and we'll watch more video tomorrow. We know they'll be playing hard."