TORONTO – The Western Mustangs closed out the 2016-17 regular season with a five set (22-25, 25-17, 25-17, 23-25, 13-15) loss to the York Lions on Saturday night at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
 
The loss gives the Mustangs a 15-4 record, placing them in second in the OUA West, and securing home court advantage for their OUA Quarterfinal matchup next week. York improves to 10-9 on the year, the same as the Queen's Gaels, however the Gaels take third in the East due to the tiebreaker, setting up a showdown with the Mustangs. 
 
Kelsey Veltman set new career highs with 31.5 points and 25 kills to land at the top of the purple and white scoresheet, followed by 16 points from Aja Gyimah.
 
The Lions were led by Celeste Witzell and Melissa Monkhouse, who recorded 20 and 19 points respectively.
 
Western controlled the first set until they were one point out from the technical, when the Lions came storming back with four straight points. The late burst allowed them to head into the timeout with a one-point lead, having previously been down 15-12.
 
Monkhouse dominated at the net in the final stretch, earning five of the nine points needed to win the set. Serving errors worked against the Lions as two of their servers lost points in immediate succession, but a lull in the purple and white offence kept them ahead.
 
Monkhouse would also bring the set to an end with her seventh point of the evening, helping the Lions head off the court with a 25-23 victory.
 
Set two saw another back-and-forth battle, with the teams seeing an even score at 11-11.
 
It was only at that point that Western was able to pull away and head towards the 25-point. Veltman anchored the advance - generating both from the service line and at the net - while Gyimah also found success in both attacking and blocking.
 
The pair, along with an ace from setter Kat Tsiofas, secured the second set by a score of 25-17.
 
Set three ended with an identical score to that of the previous set, while the Mustangs relied on the same tactics that had carried them earlier in the match.
 
Veltman returned to the court as the most efficient athlete of the third set, recording seven points in the race to 25. Tsiofas, who has served as starting setter for the Mustangs for several seasons now, also put up a pair of points with her left-handed attack.
 
York switched over from relying on Monkhouse to generate points as Witzell took over at the net. The five points she recorded throughout the set were more than her performance in the previous two combined as she quickly established herself as an emerging threat on the floor.
 
However, she couldn't stop the Mustangs from taking their second 25-17 victory of the night.
 
The fourth set saw the Mustangs struggle to maintain their high-powered offensive energy in the face of improved blocking from Witzell, recording three blocks, while still continuing to generate points offensively.
 
Veltman and Tia Miric responded with firepower of their own to keep Western's score moving along, while the Lions added Kayla Clennon to the floor late in the set to combat the surging Mustangs. The second year Sociology student made a quick impact, pumping out two points to bring York ahead at 23-22.
 
A serving and attack error from the Mustangs would seal the deal for York, who took the fourth set by a score of 25-23.
 
York would take the fifth and deciding set by a narrow 15-13 margin, but not before having to fend off a near-comeback from the Mustangs.
 
Monkhouse served seven straight to give the Lions a commanding six-point lead by the time they hit the ten-point marker, with Kristen Dillon and Witzell standing tall at the net.
 
Gyimah and Langegger responded with kills of their own, while Veltman continued her stellar blocking to eventually catch the Lions at 12-12. Clennon and Monkhouse brought a quick end to the set following the resurgence of Western to end the set with a narrow two-point victory.  
 
Western will now turn their attention to the OUA Quarterfinals, with the Mustangs set to take on the Queen's Gaels on Saturday at Alumni Hall. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and fans can tune in to all the action live on OUA.tv