TORONTO – After four sets of a game that nearly featured a first round upset, the Western Mustangs fell to the Rams (16-25, 25-27, 26-24, 16-25) to bring their season to a close.
 
Although Western's season has ended, the Rams will advance to the Final Four tournament where they're first scheduled to take on Queen's.
 
Bryn Ramsay came out on top of Western's scoresheet once again, recording 14 points throughout the afternoon. Evan Cranshaw was the only other Mustang to make it into double digits – despite not playing the full four sets – with 12.
 
Robert Wojcik and Lucas Coleman split the top spot on Ryerson's scoresheet, each recording 23 points. Wojcik pulled in points from 16 kills, five service aces, and four assisted blocks, whereas Coleman recorded 21 kills and two service aces.
 
The first set opened up with a Mustang lead that saw two aces in the first four points alone before Ryerson finally began competing at the expected level. The set was tight until the Ram blockers found their rhythm and began interfering with the purple and white offense.
 
In trying to avoid Ryerson's blockers, however, the Mustangs struggled to keep the ball in bounds or held back so much that the ball could be easily passed up.
 
On the other end of the floor the Rams continued to thrive thanks to setter Adam Anagnostopoulos. While he put only 3.5 points on the board, Anagnostopoulos may have been the determining factor of the first set. His ability to make the most out of every pass had the Rams swinging their hardest on every ball and forcing overpasses from the Mustangs.
 
With his guidance, the Rams cruised to a 16-25 win to take the first set.
 
The second set saw greater resilience from the Mustangs but it still wasn't enough to take down the heavy-firing Rams. Western came back from deep deficits twice to push the set into additional points but couldn't put up points back-to-back.
 
Despite the loss the Mustangs fared substantially better against Ryerson than they had in previous sets. A four-man serve receive was instituted when Wojcik took over at the base line after shredding through the team in last week's matchup.
 
Cranshaw, joining the floor for the second set, also posed a new challenge for Ryerson as they worked to figure out his timing and attack tendencies.
 
The third set both opened and closed with an exchange of points but this time it was Western who would come out on top.
 
In the fourth, Ryerson continued to position Coleman and Wojcik at the forefront of their offense, with fellow heavy hitter Alex Dawson being rested for much of the set. Though the Rams continued to be strong at the net, their serving was hardly what has come to be expected of the OUA's most lethal team from the base line.
 
The Mustangs mounted a comeback anchored by attacks from Choja and Cranshaw that saw five points go unanswered to recapture momentum. Battling point-for-point in the final moments of the set, Western managed to push out two in a row to pull off a third set victory at 26-24.
 
The fourth set began just as tightly contested as previously, with points being added to the board one at a time. However, unlike past sets, the point was more often coming from an unforced error.
 
Coleman continued his reign over the Ryerson offense, switching up his powerful swing for a light tip into open court. On the other half of the court, the Mustangs kept Ramsay and Cranshaw on tap.
 
Setter Matt Hooker continued to put up the most impressive back court performance of the night, as he sent up a number of impressive passes off rockets from the Ryerson point leaders, but the team continued to struggle against an energetic and strong Ram offense.
 
With a final kill from Coleman, the Rams took the final set at 16-25 to claim the match and advance to the Final Four.