LONDON, Ont. – Despite a few missteps in the third set, the Western Mustangs soared above the Guelph Gryphons to take their OUA Quarterfinal matchup in four sets (25-14, 15-25, 25-18, 25-17) and secure a place in the OUA Final Four for the second consecutive year.
 
As the league's top seed the Toronto Varsity Blues have earned the right to host the OUA championship tournament, and will take on the McMaster Marauders. Western will square off with the Ryerson Rams, who defeated Queen's in three sets on Saturday to advance.
 
Kelsey Veltman found herself on top of the scoresheet with 22.5 points after putting up 15 kills, three service aces, one solo and seven assisted blocks. Aja Gyimah came in with 16.5 points while Serena Smith was the third Mustang to record double digits at 11.
 
Rookie Meghan Morelli led the Gryphons with 15.5 points through the four sets of competition.
 
Gyimah and Veltman opened the the set for the Mustangs by leading the effort at the net with their characteristically strong double block, supplemented by their individual attacks, while Kat Tsiofas served through six points to start out each rally strong.
 
The greatest challenge to the thriving purple and white game came in the form of London native Morelli. The dominating defensive play of Taylor Beedie and Tsiofas had already proven that the Mustangs could handle even the best attackers on Guelph's roster, but serve receive was a different story.
 
"Everyone struggles a bit with serve receive," noted Veltman. "You never know who's going to be at the baseline or who the server is going to be. You can practice a little, but it's hard. It's a tough skill to do."
 
Morelli put up two consecutive service aces and followed up with a third that pushed the Mustangs out of their system and forced a back row attack. Her efforts seemed to give the Gryphons the lift they needed to start mounting a comeback as libero Kristen Almhjell started interrupting the ball on it's way to the floor.
 
But with only serve receive as the only weak point of their game, the Mustangs quickly rounded out the set at 25-14. 
 
The first points of the second set featured a complete role reversal that saw Guelph's Maddie Dedecker become the biggest offensive threat on either side of the floor. The Mustang attack, on the other hand, began sending more towards the wall than into the court.
 
A nine-point run, served by middle Nicole Collard, saw nearly as many errors on the part of the Mustangs compared to impressive plays from Guelph.
 
"We could see [the players] panicking out there," said Bartlett, "We needed to focus on our game plan. We really executed the game plan well in set one, and we didn't in set two and that was the difference."
 
The addition of rookie Emma Somerville into the back line helped improve Western's serve receive, but it wasn't enough to reverse momentum and take back control of the set. Just one point off an exact inverse of the first set's score, the Gryphons took the second at 15-25.
 
"After the first set we got too comfortable with ourselves," noted Veltman about the second set loss. "We have to work on not getting as lazy when we beat teams that well. We just need to keep up the intensity factor at all times."
 
The third set opened up with the most competitive volleyball the afternoon had seen at that point in the day as the two teams grappled with each other for momentum.
 
Both teams saw themselves take narrow leads that were quickly erased, until the Mustangs tightened up at the net. By removing the previous set's tendencies of putting too much power on the ball and having communication issues in serve reception, Western took the third set 25-18. 
 
Beedie found the most success at the net, while Gyimah, Veltman, and captain Serena Smith were all just one kill shy of matching the Cambridge native in third set performance.
 
"I wasn't surprised at all," said Bartlett about the wide ranging effort at the net. "I really expected our big scorers like Kelsey, Aja, and Taylor to step up. And Serena has been so consistent all year, she really comes to play. Candice Scott also has one of her best offensive games of the season as well."
 
The fourth set opened up in similar fashion to the third with heated competition for every point, and the Mustangs again came out on top.
 
The Gryphons were blocking better than they had in previous sets, but as their defence at the net strengthened their back court performance was on the decline. Past sets saw Guelph chasing down every ball, even if just to track it to the line, and handling the typically shudder-inducing attacks from Veltman. This time, however, heads turned more often than feet moved to keep track of the ball.
 
Guelph's difficulty in the backcourt was reflected in their attack, as they struggled to find open floor within the boundaries of the court, with Western taking the final set 25-17.
 
The Mustangs are back in action next weekend, when they head to University of Toronto's Goldring Center to continue their quest for gold. First up is a rematch against Ryerson on Friday.

"It's hard not to look ahead to that final match," said Bartlett. "We first play Ryerson and we just beat them in three straight. It's good to go in with that confidence. If anything, these girls would love another shot at Toronto."
 
"I'm excited to play Ryerson, and hopefully Toronto again," said Veltman, confirming Bartlett's assumption when she answered what she was most looking forward to about the upcoming weekend. "To get a rematch there, and win the whole thing."