TORONTO – The Mustangs started off their final weekend of regular seson play with a four set loss (17-25, 16-25, 25-19, 19-25) to the York Lions Saturday afternoon at the Tait MacKenzie Gymnasium.

The loss keeps Western in sixth place - good for qualifying for a playoff position - with a 10-9 regular season record. York holds a 12-7 record and tightens their grip on fourth place in the OUA. 

Although the match resulted in a Mustang loss, it also marked vetern Mustang Justin Scapinello's 300th kill of the season and his 350th point.
 
The first set opened up with York and the Mustangs matching each other point for point. Although York initially began to pull away at 3-5, Western quickly evened up the score at 7-7.
 
With the score still tied at 11-11, Western was relying on service errors from York to keep the score tight as the purple and white defense struggled to combat the attacks coming from the Lions.
 
At 15-19 the Mustangs called their first timeout of the match after struggling with the stream of kills from York. A second time-out was called moments later at 16-22.
 
The break in play proved to be insufficient in slowing down the Lions, who closed out the set at 17-25.
 
The Lions returned to the court with uninterrupted momentum, as they quickly picked up a three-point lead at 1-4.
 
Although an ace from Doug Austrom brought the score to 7-7, the Mustangs were unable to stay on top of York. Unable to effectively hit around the blocks coming from the Lions, the Mustangs continually sent attacks shooting past the base line.
           
Trailing by six points at 12-18, the Mustangs continued to have difficultly hitting around York's blocks. With head coach Jim Sage calling a timeout at 15-22, the Mustang defence seemed to have already given up on the set.  
 
York's Josh Henderson finished off the second set with a kill that brought the score to 16-25.
 
Again taking an early three-point lead, York had the upper hand at 2-5. Regaining the serve after a kill from Mike Choja, Austrom sent out two unreturned serves to match the Lions at 5-5.
 
Staying tight to York at 10-11, Western was determined to extend the match to a fourth set. Matching the Lions score at 16-16, the Mustang momentum could not be slowed down.
 
Taking their first substantial lead of the set at 21-17, the purple and white blocks were taking the spotlight on the court.
 
Finishing with an error from York, the Mustangs picked up their first set of the night 25-19.
 
York began the fourth set with yet another early lead at 1-4. Capitalizing on blocking, the Lions forced the Mustangs to improve attack coverage. Still trailing at 8-12, Western called their first timeout of the set.
 
Returning to the floor the Mustangs picked up two quick points to narrow the point gap at 10-12.
 
Serving and attack errors from the Mustang half of the court helped push the Lions ahead by seven points at 11-18. Still down by six at 16-22, the Mustangs called a timeout to try and slow the Lion momentum.
 
Unable to prevent York from earning their last three points, the Mustangs lost the fourth and final set 19-25.
 
Ray Szeto, in his final year with the Lions, recorded the match high number of points. Pulling in 19.5 points, Szeto recorded 17 kills, one service ace, and three assisted blocks. Leading the purple and white scoresheet was Scapinello and Austrom, who both contributed 11 points throughout the match.
 
The Mustangs return to the court on Sunday, February 8 at 2 p.m. in North Bay. The match against the Nipissing Lakers is the final regular season game for Western, with playoffs starting next weekend.