LONDON, Ont. – Despite a slow start, the Mustangs bounced back to top the defending OUA silver medallists in the Ryerson Rams in four sets (19-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-14) on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
 
"They're more of a scrappy team this year," said setter Matt Hooker about the Rams. "Last year, and in years past, they've been a powerhouse with some big guys but this year they don't make as many errors. You have to play better defence and kind of match their style of game and take it to another level to beat them. That was really important to us and I think we did a good job today after the first set."
 
Gavin Taylor led the Mustangs in points, totalling 16 throughout the four sets. Bryn Ramsay came in just behind with 14, while Chris Newcombe rounded out the top three with 11 points. For the Rams, Lucas Coleman topped the scoresheet with 14.5 points, while Will Otten recorded 9.5. Otten spent his first three seasons with Ryerson serving as the team's starting libero, only moving into the outside hitter position this year. 
 
Each of the four sets saw the Mustangs pick up the first point of the game, and all four saw Western head into the technical with a lead.
 
The first set saw an increasingly strong performance from the Rams, with the team dominating after the technical timeout. Outscoring the Mustangs 11-3 in the final stretch, Ryerson spread out attacking opportunities among four main actors. Coleman led the team with three kills, while Otten, Uchenna Ofoha, and Brendan Kewin each added two.
 
Choja led the Mustangs through the first set, with five kills.
 
The Rams were able to capitalize on their range of heavy hitters, keeping purple and white blockers on their toes and unable to anticipate which athlete setter Adam Anagnostopoulos would pick to send the ball over. The team's versatility was arguably what helped them take the first set, defeating the Mustangs by a score of 25-19.
 
Set two saw the Mustangs get off to a faster start than previous, building a lead of 8-3 early on.
 
The Rams were able to narrow Western's lead throughout the set, but were unable to overtake – or even match – the Mustang score. Ramsay emerged as the most effective attacker, finding open floor six times while also assisting on a block.
 
Only Coleman generated more points in the second set, with seven kills.
 
Ramsay initially emerged as one of the top performers on the Mustangs roster last season and – if today's match is any indication – will only continue to rise. The nursing student amassed a team-high ten digs by the end of the game, along with one solo and one assisted block.
 
The final point of the set, however, would be a kill from Mike Choja that brought the score to 25-20.
 
The third set was arguably the messiest of all four on both sides of the court.
 
Six of Ryerson's first nine points came from unforced errors on the part of the Mustangs – with attack, serving, and block errors all making an appearance. On the purple and white side of the box score, five of the first nine were unearned.
 
By the time the technical rolled around at 16-14, both teams had cleaned up their play and begun to force the longest rallies the match had seen. The Mustangs channeled power through the middle, with Choja and Chris Newcombe combining for nine kills, with Newcombe also recording two assisted blocks.
 
Ramsay and Taylor continued their strong play as well, helping the Mustangs to a narrow 25-23 win. 
 
Western's performance in the fourth set outshone each of the other three, as they jumped out in front early on and refused to relinquish the lead. The Mustangs were successful in keeping Ryerson at an arm's length, with no less than a four-point difference being seen throughout the entire set. 
 
The final set saw consistent serving from the Mustangs, with Hooker going on a five serve, and later an eight serve streak while Newcombe also sent out five in a row.
 
"With myself and Chris float serving we've been focusing on keeping them in the court so we take stress off our spin servers," explained Hooker. "We really stress having our serving consistent, and that was probably the reason for those long runs there."
 
Pairing the stability of the purple and white serves with the offensive efforts of Newcombe and Taylor, the Mustangs soared to a 25-14 victory to take the match 3-1.
 
Speaking in a post-game interview, Hooker described the win as "part one of a process." Presumably, parts two and three will come next week when the Mustangs host Guelph and Waterloo for Friday evening and Sunday afternoon matchups.