LONDON, Ont. –  Despite playing some of their best volleyball of the season, the Mustangs fell to the McMaster Marauders in four sets (22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 19-25) at on Saturday night at Alumni Hall. While the Mustangs weren't able to pull out a victory over the Marauders, they did manage to take a set off the CIS No. 1 team – a feat accomplished by only two other OUA teams this season.
 
The loss puts Western's record at 7-7 and keeps them tied for fifth in the OUA alongside Waterloo and York. McMaster, with a perfect 16-0 season, sits in first place.
 
"There's an aura about [McMaster]," noted Western head coach Jim Sage. "They've been strong for a while, and it's a big rivalry. We get excited to play them, and to play number one in the country is a great opportunity. I think we took it that way. […] We want to measure ourselves against them."
 
"It gave us an opportunity to really measure ourselves against the best team in the country," said middle Mike Choja. "Going forward we know that we can hang with teams like this, but there's still some stepping stones to get to that level."
 
Leading the Mustangs through the night was Zeid Hamadeh, whose 11 kills and three assisted blocks resulted in 12.5 points. Choja came in behind with nine, while Bryn Ramsay followed up with 8.5.
 
The first set of the four-part epic can only be described as a constant power struggle. Both teams showed off their best attackers in Hamadeh and McMaster's Stephen Marr, as each fired out notable kills throughout the set.
 
The highlight of the set undoubtedly came from a Maar kill that sent the receiving Mustang flying backward and reeling in the aftermath.
 
Despite the overwhelming firepower coming from the the opposite end of the court, Western didn't back down. In true Marauder fashion, McMaster relied on power while the Mustangs fought back with accuracy.
 
Continuing to fight through every point, the set remained close even towards the final points as Ramsay led the blocking effort effort and the team shared responsibility in the back court.
 
Slowly distancing themselves from the Mustangs, McMaster closed out the set at 22-25.
 
McMaster turned it up for the second set, finding more success in their block than previously seen. Cutting out Western's offence, the Stangs struggled to find their place on the scoreboard.
 
"My assistant coach Rob Atkinson, he told them that we were getting way too fired up in timeouts," said Sage. "We were screaming. We've got to be more in control of our emotions. We like the passion on the court, but we also have to be controlled and reset ourselves."
 
Fighting their way back into the game, the Mustangs played with seemingly renewed energy and drive. Rallies extended as Western covered more ground and made impressive dives on the floor and into the scoring table to keep the ball up.
 
McMaster continued to play with their typical ferocity, blocking five attacks and serving out 11 kills. However, Western was only able to briefly stall McMaster on their way to 25, as the set ended at 17-25.
 
Returning to the floor the Mustangs immediately began to send out attacks and blocks to rival that of McMaster.
 
The early points saw the Marauders taking balls off shoulders, and even those landing on forearms would fly out of control. Ramsay, in particular, was challenging the Marauders as a few of his kills drew audible gasps from the crowd.
 
Western kept the pressure on with blocks anchored by fourth-year middle Choja, and closed by Hamadeh and Ramsay, while setter Matt Hooker took a larger role in the backcourt than previously.
 
The lead built up by Western proved to be too much for the Marauders to handle, as the set closed out at 25-21 in favour of the home court Mustangs.
 
"That third set was huge for us," said Choja. "I would have liked the margin to be a bit bigger, we kind of collapsed a bit at the end there, but we were still able to close it off with a big block from Bryn at the end."
 
McMaster responded to the loss by opening up the fourth set with four consecutive points. While some teams would throw in the towel, the deficit seemed to only light a fire under the win hungry Mustangs.
 
The point difference was maintained throughout the set, but rallies continued to be lengthy with the Mustangs rising to match McMaster's level of play. Even as Western trailed on the scoreboard, they played some of the most competitive and hard fought volleyball of their season.
 
Unwilling to have a single blemish on their record, the Marauders pushed through the Mustangs to end the final set at 19-25.
 
"This past weekend gave us an opportunity to measure where we're at, but also where we can go," said Choja about the match.
 
The Mustangs return to the floor next week, when they remain as fixtures in Alumni Hall with another action packed weekend. First, they'll take on the York Lions on Friday night, with a matchup against Nipissing scheduled for the following day.