LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs suffered their sixth loss of the season on Friday night, falling to the Guelph Gryphons in four sets (27-25, 20-25, 18-25, 21-25) at Alumni Hall.
 
"We had some really great moments, and also moments where we struggled," said setter Jessica Lam about the team's performance. "We had a really great week of practice that led up to the game, we prepared really well."
 
The Mustangs remain in second in the OUA West, now holding a 12-6 record, with second place already secured. Guelph headed into the game with more on the line, and the win has helped separate them from Windsor in the standings. The Gryphons now hold an 8-10 record to tie Waterloo for third place in the West.
 
"That's been part of the problem," said head coach Melissa Bartlett about Western's second place standing – which has been a lockup for several weeks now.  "We've been playing for something other than improving our standings, and that hasn't been the best mentality for us."
 
Kelsey Veltman led the Mustangs offensively, recording 18.5 points throughout the match. Carly Kimmett followed with 13.5, while Aja Gyimah added another 13 to the total.
 
Guelph's Michaela Hellinga was the highest scoring athlete of the match, contributing 22.5 points and 20 digs. Libby Donovan was close behind with 20.5 points, while Hazel Atkins led the team defensively with 22 digs. 
 
The two teams traded points to open the first set, but the Gryphons slowly pulled away to head into the technical with a three-point lead.
 
Guelph, while not known as an OUA powerhouse, established themselves as contenders early in the set through cautious play.
 
Instead of going for the hitter with the hardest swing, setter Alex Curran was careful to set up strategic shots that exploited weaknesses in Western's defensive coverage. Third-year right side Laura Duncan made a point of sending the ball towards Mustangs setter Lam, forcing the Mustangs out of system and requiring another athlete to take the second touch.
 
Kimmet came out after the technical with a strong performance that saw her rack up back-to-back kills and an ace to help narrow the point-difference, but it was Veltman's performance towards the end of the set that allowed the Mustangs to surpass Guelph's score.
 
She teamed up with Melissa Langegger on a series of blocks that effectively cut out the angles that Guelph had been relying on, while also finding cracks in Gryphons defensive coverage.
 
With the late surge from the Mustangs, Western would end the first set on top with a narrow 27-25 victory.
 
A six-point run gave the Gryphons an early lead in the second frame, which they would eventually parlay into a second set victory.
 
Gormley's presence at the net quickly caused a problem for the Mustangs as she shut down the most effective hitters in the purple and white lineup.
 
Gyimah was integral for the Mustangs in chipping away at the deficit as one of the strongest all-around players on the roster. The veteran left-handed right-side has quietly been one of the most consistent players on the floor all year, but this set saw her break out by earning points at key times with a killer swing.
 
"Fans of Western volleyball over the last couple years are seeing what we would call "the old Aja,"" said Bartlett about Gyimah's performance. "She had a bit of an injury coming into this year and wasn't quite herself offensively. We've been seeing her back lately, and that's so important. […] She's been playing really well over the last few matches."
 
She was also the most frequently set athlete on the floor, yet had no errors on her record by the end of the set.
 
"Aja has always been one of our go-to's. Throwing the ball back to her, I have total confidence that she'll put it away," added Lam.
 
The second set was largely characterized by the length of the rallies, with Guelph serving as a literal example of scrappy defensive play as the Mustangs increased their strength at the net.  The Gryphons, largely due to the efforts of Atkins and Hellinga, continued several rallies that would have typically come to an end following a miss-pass.
 
Western would narrow the point difference to two before being pushed back down by the Gryphons, who ultimately came out of the set with a win. Guelph took the set 25-20, closing out with an impressive performance from middle Libby Donevan. 
 
Set three opened up as narrowly contested as the earlier two, but a strong performance from Atkins at the service line would break the point-for-point pattern and push Guelph into the lead at the technical.
 
Her efforts were complimented by similarly strong serving from Donevan, to give Guelph a 10-point lead. As a whole, the Gryphons would rack up four aces before the set came to a close, with Atkins and Hellinga putting up another each.
 
The Mustangs used a variation of the usual lineup, moving Veltman to the left side in an attempt to open up more attack opportunities.  The 6-2 Brampton native nearly matched her offensive output from the previous two sets combined, but her increased productivity at the net wasn't enough to the Gryphons down.
 
Guelph finished the set in a hurry, securing a 25-18 win.
 
The Gryphons carried their momentum over into the fourth set, but the Mustangs would go on a small point run to stall the technical timeout. Western would spend the majority of the set trying to close the gap as they scrambled to make up for errors early in the set.
 
Guelph would ultimately take the final set 25-21 after continuing their strong defensive play. The full-team effort saw them firing on nearly all cylinders to add three more successful blocks and 21 digs to the Gryphon stat sheet.
 
"Coverage has been a big focus in practice over the last couple of weeks," said Lam. "There was a lot of blocks but we did also get a lot up and that really helps with momentum and resetting. "
 
Hellinga had been the go-to hitter for much of the match, but the final set saw her emerge as a larger defensive threat while Atkins took the lead offensively.
 
However, Western had the upper hand when it came to serving. Only one serve was missed throughout the entirety of the set, while four players bested the Gryphon serve receive to record an ace. Kimmett and Taylor Beedie would both add one to the total, while two came from Danielle Grasman.
 
Serving was one of the only areas in which the Mustangs were able to outperform their opponents, as the typically efficient offence had trouble keeping the ball within court boundaries.
 
"We're always focusing on serving, especially in practice. We've been focusing on keeping consistency and getting our serves in. We found that we struggled with that in past games so we wanted to make sure that it's always a strong point and that we're up on aces versus errors," noted Lam.
 
However, it would be an ace from Atkins that brought the set to an end – her fourth of the evening – to give the Gryphons the win.
 
Western will be back on the court at Alumni Hall tomorrow evening when they take on the Waterloo Warriors.  The match is the final regular season game of the year, and will also serve as the team's annual Senior Day game with five Mustangs players set to be honoured prior to the first serve. Game time is set for 6 p.m.