The Mustangs ended the regular season with a 13-6 record to set second in the OUA West, ensuring that a first round playoff match will be played at Alumni Hall. Queen's will make the trip down from Kingston on Saturday, after finishing third in the East Division.
 
Hosting playoff contests is nothing new for Western, with the team finishing in the top two in the OUA West in every season since 2014-15. Last season even saw the team host the Gaels, with the Mustangs pulling off a three set win (25-15, 25-15, 20-25) to move onto the OUA Final Four.
 
Fans can expect Kelsey Veltman to lead the effort against the Gaels, as the highest scoring athlete on Western's roster as well as within the OUA. Her 4.9 points per set are unmatched, a combination of being the leagues best blocker and one of the top attackers. Veltman's 36 solo blocks is a league high, while she also ended the regular season with a .356 hitting percentage to be one of the most efficient attackers in the province.
 
Recent weeks have also seen her generate several points from the service line, with 16 aces over five games. The first three matchups of February – against Toronto, Trent, and Windsor – saw her record five aces in each four set battle. However, Danielle Grasman currently holds the team record for aces in one contest.
 
Saturday's four set win over Waterloo saw Grasman generate six aces – a new benchmark for the Mustangs. She has been one of Western's most consistent servers throughout the entire season, and is often found on the baseline during long point runs.
 
Melissa Langeggar follows the pair of starting middles as the team's third best server, averaging 0.40 aces per set, while setter Jessica Lam has been picking up points over the last handful of games.
 
Lam moved into the starting setter position earlier this year after an injury sidelined fifth year veteran Kat Tsiofas. Since that time she has developed a reputation as a threat in her own right, following in Tsiofas footsteps by being one of the most athletic setters in the league. Lam runs a diverse offence that has seen her spread the ball fairly equally with a bit more of a focus on Aja Gyimah.
 
Fourth-year right side Gyimah has been a starter since first joining the team for the 2014-15 season, and has been the face of consistency for a team that has struggled to retain focus through the entire match. Gyimah is one of the best backcourt assets the Mustangs have, but her killer line shot makes her a threat in the frontcourt as well.
 
OUA Quarter-finals
Saturday, March 3 vs. Queen's – 2:00pm

The Gaels will come to Alumni Hall after finishing their season ranked third in a competitive East Division, matching Western's 13-6 record. This will be the second time the two teams face off this season, after Queen's suffered a three set loss to the Mustangs (25-9, 25-18, 25-20) in November.
 
Olivia van Baaren led the Gaels with nine points after joining the floor in the second set, while Julia Wiercigroch followed with seven points across three sets. The first set of the matchup was particularly lopsided with Veltman and Langegger dominating at the net and leading the team through an eight-point run. 
 
Set two was substantially closer, with the teams tied at 10-10 before another eight point run pushed Western into the lead. This time, however, it was attack errors on the part of the Gaels that provided the Mustangs with the bulk of their points.  
 
Queen's would end the third set with the smallest deficit of the evening at only five points, giving the Mustangs their first straight sets victory of the season.
 
While she had trouble producing against the Mustangs, Shannon Neville has led Queen's on the scoresheet throughout the season. She averages 3.9 points per set and recently recorded a season high 23.5 points against the Varsity Blues on February 16. 
 
Neville is also the most lethal server on the roster, with her aces-per-set average sitting right between that of Veltman and Grasman. As a whole Queen's is one of the league's biggest threats from the base line, typically averaging 2.14 aces per set while their serve receive is able to hold their opponents to 1.60.
 
Looking at the recent history between Western and Queen's isn't enough to make a solid prediction for the matchup, as the Gaels have steadily improved since meeting the Mustangs early in the season. Since that point, they've held their own against Toronto and Ryerson – two of the best teams in the entire league. They topped Toronto in four sets in January, and pulled another two sets off the OUA East second-place team in February. They've also managed to take a set away from the undefeated Ryerson Rams in both of their matchups, a feat unmatched by the Mustangs.