NORTH BAY, Ont. – The Mustangs close out the regular season with a four set win (25-17, 25-18, 18-25, 25-19) over the Nipissing Lakers Sunday afternoon at the Robert J. Surtees Student Athletics Centre. The Mustangs also end off the 2014-15 regular season with the highest number of sets played within the OUA regular season since 2009.
 
With the win, the Mustangs remain in fourth place within OUA West with a 7-12 record and have secured a spot in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Nipissing's season ends as their record falls to 5-14, holding down sixth place in OUA East.
 
Throughout the first set, Mustang attacks took center stage on the court. With 15 kills in the first set, and a .312 hitting percent, strong net play was undoubtedly what led to a purple and white victory.
 
At the technical timeout, Western had the upper hand over the Lakers with a two-point difference.
 
Returning to the court at 16-14, the Mustangs were determined to push Nipissing further into a deficit and prevent them from overcoming the Western lead.  Swinging with power and accuracy while refusing to let balls drop to the floor allowed the Mustangs to extend their lead and push the Lakers further into a hole.
 
Eliminating the attacking errors that had caused trouble in other matches, the Mustangs closed out the first set 25-17.
 
The second set directly mirrored the first, with the Lakers down by two at 16-14 for the technical timeout.
 
With the whistle to return to play, the Mustangs continued their dominance of the court. Again extending their lead, Western stayed in control of the court for the remainder of the set.
 
With only five errors out of 34 total attacks, the Mustangs took the second set 25-18.
 
With the Mustangs looking to close out the match in three sets, the Lakers stepped onto the court with renewed determination.  Unlike the previous twp sets, the Lakers grabbed control of the play and refused to relinquish it.
 
The technical time out saw the Lakers with a ten-point advantage over the Mustangs at 6-16. Increasing their number of kills by six from the previous set, the Lakers were putting up a fight.
 
Unable to combat the sudden pickup in Laker performance, the Mustangs lost the third set 18-25.

The fourth set would see both teams battle for the lead as the Lakers pushed the Mustangs to their limits and were only down by one at the technical timeout. Returning from the break at 16-15, Western refocused and allowed Nipissing's errors to push the Mustangs ahead.
 
Finishing off the match with nine kills in the final set, the Mustangs took the fourth set 25-19.
 
Nipissing's Annabelle Harvey and Aja Gyimah topped the scoresheets, each recording 15 points across the four sets. Kelsey Veltman followed closely behind with 14 points.
 
Playoffs are scheduled to begin next weekend on Saturday, February 14. With Sunday's win the Mustangs will finish in fourth place in the OUA West and will return to the court to face off against the OUA West first place McMaster Marauders next week.