TORONTO – In a game befitting two of the top teams in the nation, the Western Mustangs fell to the McMaster Maruaders in a thrilling five set (26-28, 18-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-17) matchup in the OUA Final at the Goldring Centre on Saturday night.
 
"I don't think I could be more proud if we had won," said Mustangs head coach Melissa Bartlett. "It was one of those games where unfortunately in that match there had to be a loser, but both teams put on such a phenomenal display of volleyball that we have so much to be proud of.
 
"I think I don't even know if we're going to have to work to get over [the loss] because we're going to be so excited to go to nationals, it's a brand new experience for everyone on our team. I think the excitement is just going to be there, and that drive and will to win will be there because it's a brand new experience to us. It's ok to feel this one and it hurts a little bit, but I know that we're super excited to get back to work next week and find out who we match up against.
 
Fifth-year middle Candice Scott was awarded player of the game honours for the Mustangs after recording 21 points off of 13 kills, six service aces, and two blocks. Kelsey Veltman tallied 21.5 points in the loss, while Aja Gyimah was just behind with 18 points.
 
Joanna Jedrzejewska led the way for McMaster, earning player of the match with 14 kills, four aces, and three blocks for 21 points. Four other Marauders recorded double-digit point totals with Maicee Sorensen scoring 16, Aleks Arsovic had 15, Alicia Jack registed 14, and Rebecca Steckle who scored 11.
 
The two teams traded points throughout the opening moments of the first set before the Marauders began to go on an extended run, capitalizing on a number of attack errors from the purple and white, and forcing the Mustangs into a timeout with McMaster leading 8-3.
 
Things returned to a point-for-point affair following the Mustangs timeout, with McMaster taking a 16-9 lead into the first technical. After the Marauders forced Western into another timeout with McMaster up 18-11, the Mustangs started to find their rhythm. Shots began to find open floor, and solid serving runs from Scott and Gyimah helped bring the Mustangs back, with Langegger tying the game at 23-23 with a kill.
 
The game returned to its point-for-point setting after that, with the Marauders taking the first set 28-26.
 
Set two played out similarly to the opening frame in the early going, with McMaster getting out to a 7-3 lead, before extending that to 11-5 and forcing the Mustangs into a timeout.
 
Just as in the first set, the timeout seemed to settle the Mustangs as they began to close the gap with McMaster leading 16-12 at the technical timeout. McMaster came out strong following the technical, going on an 8-2 run to pull within one point of the win. Western stalled the Marauders march to 25, rattling off four straight points, before a kill from the Marauders gave them the set at 25-18.
 
Just as in the first two sets the Marauders took an early lead in the third, going up 5-1 on the Mustangs before Western called a timeout. Once again, the Mustangs responded well coming out of the timeout, going on a 4-2 run before the Marauders called a timeout of their own with McMaster up 7-5.
 
Western began to rally back after the technical timeout, going on a 6-0 run with Veltman leading the way, including a kill that tied the set at 16-16 and forced the Marauders into a timeout.
 
After a block from Danielle Grassman put the Mustangs up 21-20, the match once again resulted in the two sides trading points, with neither team able to build a significant advantage. A pair of errors from the Marauders pushed the Mustangs over the top, taking a 27-25 set win to send the game to the fourth.
 
McMaster bounced back quickly from their third set loss, taking a 7-2 lead in the opening moments of the fourth. The Marauders continued to build their lead following a Western timeout, before the Mustangs battled back cut the Marauders lead to three at the technical timeout.
 
Strong blocking from the Mustangs following the timeout tied things up at 16-16 before the Mustangs took the lead at 18-17, forcing McMaster to call a timeout of their own. Western continued to build their lead and a kill from Veltman gave the Mustangs the fourth set 25-23 and set the stage for a fifth and deciding frame.
 
The fifth started out evenly between the two teams, with both sides trading errors to set the score at 5-5, before the Marauders took the lead at 8-7. McMaster continued to roll, going on a 4-1 run to force the Mustangs into their second timeout with the Marauders up 12-8.
 
With McMaster set for match point at 14-10 the Mustangs put forth one of their strongest runs of the season. A kill from Veltman started things off, with Tia Miric then recording two kills and a block to help bring Western back and take a 15-14 lead. Unfortunately for the Mustangs the Marauders scored the final three points of the contest to take the fifth set 17-15.
 
"It was a rollercoaster of emotions but we battled back really hard," said Scott. "We just stayed focused and did the things we needed to do, played really disciplined defence and that's what kept us in the game. We'll learn from this loss and move forward and hopefully we'll get them next time."
 
That next time may not be too far off, as both the Mustangs and Marauders have qualified for the U SPORTS Championship. Bartlett says that tonight's game will serve the Mustangs well as they head against the top teams in the nation next week.
 
"I think all season we've been talking about using our size to our advantage and you saw a little bit of a different lineup there," said Bartlett. "With Kelsey on the left side with two middles, that's certainly something we've had in the back of our minds as a possibility against some of the Canada West teams that are going to bring more size to the court. [Not only that], we had about 12 athletes on the roster that contributed in a big way in the Final Four, so that depth is something we can rely on next weekend as well."
 
Western will now await the release of the national championship schedule, with the tournament set to take place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto from March 17-19.