KINGSTON, Ont. – In one of the most highly anticipated rematches of the regular season, the Mustangs came out strong but were unable to top the CIS No. 10 Gaels, falling in three sets (20-25, 14-25, 16-25) on Saturday afternoon at the ARC Gymnasium.
 
The loss puts the Mustangs at 9-8 to fall back into fifth place alongside Waterloo, while the Gaels improve to 13-5 and sit behind only McMaster in the OUA standings.
 
Veteran middle Mike Choja led the Mustangs with ten points on nine kills and two assisted blocks. Coming in just behind Choja was recent Senior Day honouree Doug Austrom, who picked up 6.5 points, and Bryn Ramsay with five.
 
Queen's Marko Dakic led all players with 15 points, while Mike Tomlinson's 13.5 and Scott Brunet's 11 round out the players earning double digits.
 
Unlike the previous meeting between the historic rivals, the Mustangs began the first set right next to, if not ahead of, Queen's. The score went back and forth to be even across the board four times before either team reached ten.
 
Queen's and Western both struggled to put together point runs, with service errors being the Gaels biggest problem. The Mustangs, for their part, were called on two lifts and a double touch.
 
Unfortunately for the purple and white, Queen's cleaned up their serving game late in the set to land three aces and cut off the flow of unearned points. Now facing off against a tougher Gaels squad, the Mustangs gave up the first set 20-25.
 
The Gaels returned to the floor for the second set with a renewed focus on blocking. Taking back-to-back points directly off the block and getting a piece of many more, the Western offence had to rework their plan.
 
Moving away from the left side and into the middle, Matt Hooker found success in setting quicks for Choja – the only play that wasn't consistently getting shut down. It's no surprise that the London native was one of the few able to avoid the imposing wall put up from Queen's as he's one of the tallest athletes on the purple and white roster at 6-7.
 
With only one attacker able to generate points, Western's offense continued to struggle while the Gales only picked up speed. A couple of less frequently seen faces joined the floor in Sean Boyne and Gianfranco Sartor, but the lineup changes weren't enough to turn momentum in Western's favour.
 
Four consecutive errors from the Mustangs closed out the frame, giving Queen's the second set at 14-25.
 
The third set opened up with an elevated level of competition as the Mustangs were playing at the same pace that challenged the Gaels in the first.
 
Queen's rounded the 20-point before the Mustangs for the third time after a combination of blocking, undefendable attacks, and technically clean play that left Western trailing. While backcourt support wasn't frequently needed for the Gaels, libero Ivo Dramov was ready for whatever balls were able to make it through the front line.
 
Continuing to run through the Mustangs, Queen's closed out the final set at 16-25.
 
The Mustangs are back on the floor tomorrow afternoon, when they'll have their sights firmly set on a victory over the RMC Paladins. Game time is set for 3 p.m. at the Kingston Military Community Sports Centre.