LONDON, Ont. – Evan Cranshaw recorded a season-high 19 points on Saturday afternoon to lead the Mustangs over the Brock Badgers for the second time in a week in a four set victory (23-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-18) at Alumni Hall.
 
With the win, Western's record improves to 6-4 and moves them into a tie with Guelph for second place in the OUA West. Meanwhile, the Badgers fall to 2-7 for fifth place in the same division.
 
"We knew they were going to fight," said Cranshaw about the team's expectations heading into the match. "We kind of ran over them in the first set when we played them at Brock, and we knew they were going to come back and they put up a good fight through all four sets. But once we get going it's hard to stop a team like us."
 
Cranshaw was the highest scoring athlete of the day, recording 17 kills, one solo block, and two assisted blocks.
 
"Evan has been coming, and coming, and coming, and played himself into a starting spot," noted head coach Jim Sage. "He's an athlete. He competes and he's a great teammate. We really like him, his teammates really like and that makes him a good player."
 
Ramsay followed with 16 points, while Zeid Hamadeh picked up 14.5. The Badgers counted on Timmy Spisar and John Elgersma to generate points, recording 15 and 13.5 respectively. 
 
"We were scouting Spisar both last week and leading up to this week," said Cranshaw. "He's their go-to guy. He gets most of the balls, so we knew we had to shut him down and that we could take care of the rest."
 
The first set can best be described as a back-and-forth battle, with the teams first tied at 12-12 and tied several more times after that. 
 
The opening points of the first set saw the Badgers first send a serve shooting into the net, and then follow up with an attack that found the seam between two purple and white athletes. Those two plays provide the best description of Brock's play.
 
With a relatively young lineup, the Badgers oscillated between flashes and brilliance and rookie mistakes. Defensive communication and footwork was a particular sticking point for the team, who found themselves unable to respond to hits from Ramsay on more than one occasion.
 
Western leaned on Ramsay to generate points at the net and find his way around the strong blocking coming from the Badgers. Three solo and seven assisted blocks served to shut down the purple and white offense, with Elgersma serving as the preeminent threat.
 
To combat Brock's blocking the Mustangs turned up the power on their swing only to send nearly as many balls outside the confines of the court as inside.
 
Brock narrowly edged out the Mustangs to take the first set, with a final score of 23-25.
 
Set two saw the Mustangs return to the court with cleaner play for an early leg up.
 
A more varied offensive effort was key in both building and maintaining the lead. While the previous set saw setter Matt Hooker heavily favour Ramsay, the team captain and Winnipeg native mixed up opportunities at the net to keep Brock on their toes.
 
Cranshaw, Hamadeh, and Chris Newcombe all saw more action than in the previous set and amped up the energy.
 
"We knew they were going to come after us, they always do," said Sage. "They'll fight, and they're feisty. We didn't panic, and used some other references. I think we played quite well after the first set."
 
The refreshed game plan allowed the Mustangs to hold an eight-point lead at the technical. Western maintained the commanding lead throughout the remainder of the set to take the second by a score of 25-14.
 
The third set closely mirrored the first, with both teams locked in a consistent battle for any lead that could be maintained.
 
Western and Brock remained deadlocked at 18-18 until a seemingly anxious Badger lineup began sending the ball closer to the back wall than the court.
 
Mike Choja's presence at the net was also likely a factor in the breakdown of Brock's offence, as the London native had began posing a challenge with his block.
 
Elgersma continued to be the preferred weapon for Brock, but he began to struggle when confronted with imposing blocks. Cranshaw, however, continued to thrive and drive up the purple and white score. He, along with Ramsay and Hamadeh, pushed the Mustangs ahead to take the third set by a three-point margin.
 
"Zeid, on left side, was doing really well," noted Cranshaw when asked about the performance of his teammates. "He got serve most of the game and was passing really well. He scored a lot of balls that we needed to put away and played really well."
 
"Our left sides really took over sets two, three, and four," said Sage. "We're really pleased with the performance of our outsides tonight."
 
An eight-point serving run from Hamadeh opened up the fourth set on a strong note for the Mustangs, but the Badgers quickly responded in kind with a six-point run of their own.
 
Western fought back with consistent serving, and bolstered their defensive game through quick footwork, while Cranshaw continued to dominate on offence. The final set alone saw the Kinesiology student record four kills, while he only notched five errors throughout the entire game.
 
Evan Hammond joined the floor in the final minutes of the game to bring the set to a close, scoring the last two points for the Mustangs to bring the score to 25-18.
 
The Mustangs return to Alumni Hall next weekend to host the Windsor Lancers, with game time set for 8 p.m. on Saturday.