LONDON, Ont. – Following Friday's four set win over Lakehead, setter Kat Tsiofas spoke about the difficulty of playing any team in back-to-back games, and that prediction held true on Saturday, with the Mustangs taking a hard-fought four set (25-15, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20) win over the Lakehead Thunderwolves at Alumni Hall
 
"There was some ups and downs that we can work on," said Danielle Grasman. "But we started out hot I think and pushed through those little lulls."
 
"We played really well as a team, it was a team effort. Both on and off the court, it was really strong for everybody."
 
Western now moves to 7-0 on the year, and their record matches that of the McMaster Marauders atop the OUA West Division standings, while the Toronto Varsity Blues are undefeated at 5-0 in the East Division. The trio are the only teams across both the East and West Divisions to hold an unblemished record. 
 
For the fifth straight game Kelsey Veltman led the Mustangs in scoring, recording 17.5 points. Aja Gyimah was next up on the Mustangs scoring leaderboard with 12 points, while setter Tia Miric led the team with nine digs.
 
The Thunderwolves relied on Sara Potter to generate points, as she finished with a match-high 18.5. Leah Mousseau added 17 to Lakehead's total, while Kailan Robinson pitched in 16.
 
The Mustangs didn't miss a beat in the first set, immediately building up what would become an insurmountable 6-1 lead.
 
Grasman led the offensive effort with arguably her best showing of the season, recording five kills and a block in the first set. The Brescia College student ended the game with 10.5 points to be the third highest scoring Mustang.
 
The play calling of setter Tia Miric and errors on the part of Lakehead only pushed Western further ahead as they continued to thrive throughout the set. By the time the technical came around, the Mustangs had doubled the score of the Thunderwolves.
 
A Lakehead comeback briefly appeared to be mounting once the Mustangs hit 24 points as the Thunderwolves strung together four points – their longest run of the set. Potter was lethal from the base line, with two of the four points coming off a serve that the Mustangs were unable to return. Ironically, her fourth serve was what killed off the comeback after it flew into the net to give the Mustangs a 25-15 win.
 
The Mustangs continued to control the pace of the game into the second set, again opening with a big lead.
 
However, once Robinson took over at the baseline it seemed like a whole new game. Back-to-back aces helped bring the team and a pair of purple and white attack errors brought the Thunderwolves within one point of the Mustangs, and from that point on the set was a battle.
 
Just as it did in the second set of yesterday's matchup, the Mustang energy dipped as that of the Thunderwolves hit its peak. Mousseau cut through Western's blockers to find open court and lead the offensive attack, while the entire team began improving their defensive game.
As Lakehead thrived, they raced ahead of the Mustangs to take the second set 25-21.
 
"It was kind of a Jekyll and Hyde performance," said head coach Melissa Bartlett about how the second set compared to the rest of the match. "We put together a really solid, impressive first set and then set two – a little bit of panic sets in when they put pressure on us."
 
The burst of energy from the Thunderwolves returned for the third set to challenge the Mustangs on every front.
 
While Lakehead's defence initially struggled with both communication and coverage in the first set, their third set performance was far improved. Their strong hustle kept the purple and white heavy hitters from running up the score as they've done in the past as rallies became increasingly lengthy.
 
"Nothing was hitting the floor," said Bartlett. "They just played free. Offensively they know that they had to swing high against our blocks. Serving they were really trying to take us out of system and they had some leaders who stepped up and certainly put together a better game than yesterday."
 
Western was down at the technical timeout, but returned only to flip momentum in their favour. Kaleigh Matheson and Veltman came out strong at the net to combine for six consecutive points – served by Gyimah – to eliminate their point deficit and take back the lead.
 
The final few points were hard-fought, but the Mustangs eventually prevailed to take the set 25-22.
 
Rallies continued to be lengthy in the fourth set of the night, but strong blocking from the Thunderwolves allowed Lakehead to take the lead.
 
The Thunderwolves were blocking better than they had all evening, although the several continued blocks didn't make it on to the scoresheet. Jessica Korchak was particularly effective, consistently shutting down Veltman. 
 
Momentum began to shift back in favour of the Mustangs following the addition of veteran setter Tsiofas onto the court as she immediately made an impact. Western also countered the increased level of play from Lakehead with strong blocking of their own – a staple of the purple and white game.
 
An eight-point run took the Mustangs from a two-point deficit to take the lead at 21-16, five of which were won due to blocking from Veltman, Matheson, Tsiofas.
 
Western closed out the set quickly after regaining the lead, taking the fourth set 25-20 to capture their seventh straight win.
 
"I'm proud of how [the team] played in the third and fourth sets," noted Bartlett. "Lakehead was playing really well. They didn't come easy to us."
 
Western returns to the court Saturday, hosting the U Sports No. 4 McMaster Marauders at Alumni Hall. The game will determine which team takes sole possession of the top spot in the OUA West, and could also impact the national the U Sports Top Ten rankings.
 
Saturday's match will be the last of the 2016 calendar year, and can be streamed live on OUA.tv.