LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs delivered a five set thriller (25-20, 26-24, 24-26, 22-25, 15-13) for their fans on Friday evening in Alumni Hall, ultimately topping the Windsor Lancers for the third purple and white win of the season.

 "These long matches early in the season are going to make us better in the long run," said Mustangs head coach Melissa Bartlett.  "It's great to see that the caliber of the other West division teams is improving, I think that's going to make us better – these challenging matches."

With the win, Western's record improves to 3-2 while the Lancers sit at 3-4.

Kelsey Veltman's 28.5 points led the Mustangs, while Carly Kimmett followed with 17.5 points as the second highest scoring athlete. Defensively, libero Courtney Sestric and right side Aja Gyimah lead the Mustangs with 24 and 23 digs, respectively.

Rookie Paige Phills was the highest scoring Lancer of the evening, racking up 26 points throughout five sets of action.

The Mustangs claimed the first set by a score of 25-20 after leading the Lancers throughout the entirety of the game.

The purple and white attack showed their strength throughout the set, managing to go on lengthy point runs, at one point leaving Windsor trailing by eight points. Kimmett and Veltman led the Mustangs offensively, each putting up four points.

Windsor was able to close the gap towards the end of the set after a series of unforced Mustang errors slowly chipped away at the point difference.

"What I think we need to clean up is first contacts, and passing," said Gyimah.  "We 've got to be a bit focused on defense, pretty much first contacts, once we figure that out we can handle the rest."

The second set was more competitive and saw longer rallies after the Lancers seemingly revamped their defensive game. The improvements allowed Windsor to dictate the pace of the game through much of the set and forced the Mustangs to play on their heels.

While Windsor's defensive game was thriving, the Mustangs struggled to send the ball directly to setter Kat Tsiofas. The fifth year veteran and team captain played an even more substantial role than usual, as she continually called and set smart plays that kept the Lancer defence on their toes.
 
Gyimah, however, had a standout game in the backcourt in addition to a strong performance in the front. The Scarborough native shouldered the brunt of the defensive burden after becoming a target for Phills, and would become solely responsible for keeping more than one rally alive after continually passing up balls that initially seemed like sure-fire kills.
 
"It was great to see Aja back, defensively she was lights out tonight, she dug some really tough balls," said Bartlett. "She really came on in set four and five offensively when we needed her, so that was a very senior performance of her."
 
Bartlett took a timeout towards the end of the set, giving the Mustangs the focus they needed to finish strong and secure a 26-24 victory.
 
The third set kicked off with a change in the starting line-up, as middle Kate Ferguson joined the floor. Despite the attempt to switch up the chemistry on the court, the Lancers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead.

"I think we went up 2-0 and we got a little complacent in set three to be honest," said Bartlett. "There was some defensive plays that we just weren't ready to make, and we just weren't quite as focused on executing our game plan, so it's just a continuous work in progress."
 
The Mustangs would storm back and tie the set more than once, only to be pushed back into a deficit as they struggled to combat a thriving Lancer corps.
 
Rookie standout Phill was instrumental in Windsor's success throughout the set, as she racked up eight kills on her own while also proving to be a valuable asset in the backcourt. The Windsor native led a final offensive push for the Lancers to take the set 26-24 and force a fourth.
 
"I think she's going to be a really exciting player to watch in the future, she forced us to switch things up defensively because she's very divers as an attacker," said Bartlett of Phill. "She's got a lot of different angles she can use and it certainly showed."
 
The Mustangs and Lancers traded points to begin the fourth set, with neither team managing to gain momentum over the other.
 
Both teams had tightened up defensively compared to the previous set, allowing for fewer errors and more continuous play. The Lancers were the first to break out of the point-for-point pattern, racking up a three-point lead before a purple and white timeout interrupted the momentum.
 
In an attempt to adjust to Western's new defensive coverage, the Lancers offence switched gears. The team began favouring precise attacks that saw them expertly place the ball just out of reach of the Mustangs, making Western scramble and struggle to get clean passes to the setter.
 
Western's defensive struggles carried over into their offensive game, as Tsiofas had to chase down the ball – limiting the number of plays she could run.
 
Despite a hot streak late in the set that saw the Mustangs come within one of the Lancers, Windsor took the fourth set 25-22, to send the match into a fifth deciding set.
 
Western came out with a vengeance to start the final set, jumping out to an early lead before a Lancers timeout interrupted the budding purple and white momentum.
 
The two teams almost immediately fell back into the familiar pattern of trading points, before the Lancers eventually took a 9-6 lead midway through the set.
 
Bartlett called a timeout as the set was edging towards completion, and returned her team to the floor more disciplined and focused then they had been all match. The defensive game was tightened up, and as a result the offence began to thrive as the Mustangs took the fifth and final set 15-13.
 
"We noticed that some of the outside hitters were bringing us down the line, and then we started blocking down the line," said Gyimah about one of the determining factors of the final set. "But it definitely took us until like the fifth set to figure it out."
 
The Mustangs will be back in action next weekend, when they host the Queen's Gaels on November 24, before facing off against RMC the following day to close out the first half of the regular season.