LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs rallied for a big comeback victory in five sets (25-19, 18-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-13) over a strong Queen's Gaels team at Alumni Hall Friday night.
After falling behind 2-1 in sets, the Western men regrouped and fought their way back for an impressive come-from-behind win to improve their regular season record to 4-2, good for a tie for second spot in the OUA's West Division with the Windsor Lancers (the McMaster Marauders, at 6-1, currently hold down the top spot). The Gaels, also 4-2, are now in third place in the East Division.
"It was a huge win for us," said
Matt Hooker, Western's fourth-year setter. "They have a few studs on that team. We've had some battles in the past few years with [Queen's], so it feels good to get some revenge, but it's even bigger for this year in the standings. That's what's most important to us."
Pulling out a win was far from a sure thing for the Mustangs Friday night, as they not only trailed in sets, 2-1, but were knotted at 21-21 in the fourth set.
"I think our block kind of fell behind and they scored a little bit more at will," said Hooker, referring to the second and third sets. "And we started making some uncharacteristic errors. But once we got back to blocking, and playing defense, and being smart in transition offense, we took the fourth and fifth sets."
Indeed, the Mustangs fought tooth and nail to earn a 25-21 win in the fourth set to push the match to a deciding fifth set, where they came away 15-13 winners.
After the Gaels' top scorer, Markus Trence, tied the score at 21 in the fourth, the Western men rattled off four consecutive points to send it to a fifth set. Back-to-back kills by
Bryn Ramsay and
Evan Cranshaw were followed by a service ace by Lukas Kaufman to make it 24-21. A Trence error on an attack gave the Mustangs the set win.
Western played perhaps its cleanest set in the fifth, committing just one error in the frame. Cranshaw really stepped up late in the match, recording three kills in the final moments. Tied 11-11, he recorded back-to-back kills to put the Mustangs up 13-11. Another Cranshaw kill made it 14-12 before
Chris Newcombe ended the match with a kill of his own.
It may have been a stressful win, but it was surely a character-building one as well. Josh Cohen, a member of the Mustangs' training staff, seems to agree.
"I think we lost a little bit of our composure over the course of the game, but I think Jim (Sage, head coach) got everyone back into gear, and we showed them who we are," Cohen said. "We just have to stay composed in those tight battles. I think we kind of lost a lot of focus, but once we got it back we took the game to our advantage.
"I think we've come a long way from the beginning of the season … from preseason and the tournaments until now. The guys are communicating a lot better, and there's a lot better team play, for sure. And it's really showing in the games."
Ramsay led Western's offensive attack with 24.5 points, including 23 kills on the night. Cranshaw had 15.0 points in the match (with 14 kills), while Newcombe had 13.0 points (10 kills) and
Zeid Hamadeh had 12.5 points, with eight kills and three service aces. Evan Hammond was big on defense, recording six assisted blocks.
Trence was the top scorer for Queen's, tallying 20.5 points, including 17 kills. Jack Peckham (13.5 points), Joel Rudd (12.5 points), and Mitchell Neuert (12.5 points) each had 10 kills apiece. Rudd and Malcolm Prentice had a pair of service aces each, while Peckham recorded two solo and three assisted blocks.
"I think we're starting to figure out our identity and what we need to do to succeed," said Hooker. I think we're a scrappy team. We play well as a team, we have a great team dynamic, we have a good team culture. So, we win as a group, and I think that's why we're going to be successful in the end."
The Mustangs will be back in action tomorrow night, Saturday, November 25, when they host the RMC Paladins at 8:00 p.m. at Alumni Hall to close out the first portion of the regular season.
