LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs opened with a dominant first set and cruised to win in straight sets (25-9, 25-18, 25-20) over the Queen's Gaels at Alumni Hall on Friday night.
 
The Gaels entered the weekend with a 5-1 record, trailing only the Ryerson Rams in the OUA's East Division, but it was all Mustangs on Friday night, as the purple and white snapped the Gaels' three-match win streak and improved their own record to 4-2, good for second spot in the West Division behind the McMaster Marauders. The match also marked the first clean three-set win for the Mustangs this season.
 
"I think that was a long time coming," Western's head coach, Melissa Bartlett said. "And that's the first thing I said to the girls afterwards. We've put in the work, and it hasn't really come out in our results the last couple of weekends. So, it always feels good to have a clean win, especially against a talented team like Queen's."
 
The Mustangs jumped out of the gate with a convincing 25-9 first-set win. Ahead 10-5, Western outscored Queen's 15-4 the remainder of the set. Those points included three kills apiece from Kelsey Veltman and Melissa Langegger.
 
"We came out really strong," said Langegger, who finished the night with seven kills and 8.5 points. "We worked a lot on defense in practice this week, and I think the effort and intensity we had all through the week really got us a good start. Overall, I think we really played well."
 
Veltman, fresh off being named a Lone Star Texas Grill Western Mustangs Athlete of the Week, led the Mustangs in scoring once again Friday night, tallying 16 points. The King's College student had a team-leading 13 kills. Aja Gyimah had 8.5 points (with eight kills), while Kat Tsiofas notched 7.5 points and had a strong blocking game (one solo and five assisted). Tsiofas also had a game-high three service aces.
 
The second set was more closely-contested until the midway point when first year player Chloe Biel stepped up and rattled off eight serves in a row.
 
"She came in and made a really critical serving run in set 2," said Bartlett. "I think without that serving run, we don't have the success that we had in that match."Ahead 18-10, the Mustangs cruised to a 25-18 second set win.
 
While the third set was the closest of the night, the Gaels didn't see another lead after being up 8-7. It was back and forth until Western opened up a five-point lead at 18-13, and that would remain the difference as the Mustangs earned their first clean win of the year with a 25-20 third-set win.
 
"Winning in three was a great feeling," said Langegger, a second-year Kinesiology student from Oakville, Ont. "We struggled the past couple of games, and I think what we did in practices this week really allowed us to come with the confidence into this game to pull out a three-set win."
 
"We had a really specific game plan, and we executed that really well, from start to finish," said Bartlett. "I saw them practice all week, the way that our seniors and captains were leading … I think our team was just so motivated, and it showed in developing a lead early on."
 
The Mustangs will be back in action tomorrow night, Saturday, November 25, when they host the RMC Paladins at 6:00 p.m. at Alumni Hall to close out the first portion of the regular season.