HAMILTON, Ont. - Despite their persistency the Mustangs suffered a close defeat to the McMaster Marauders on Sunday January 13 (19-25, 25-16, 27-25, 23-25, 10,15).

At the beginning of the first set the Mustangs and Marauders remained neck and neck exchanging points. With an effective kill and two service aces the Marauders pulled ahead 13-8. Several attack errors kept the teams marginally apart. A couple effective kills brought the Mustangs back into the game until they tied 15-15. However, McMaster maintained a steady lead with many service aces and despite the Mustangs continued efforts they lost the round 19-25.

Western came back strong for the second set. Several effective attacks and service aces kept the Mustangs ahead 9-2. The Marauders were only able to earn a couple attacks between the Mustang's push forwards, earning kill after kill to lead 22-11. However, McMaster pushed back to earn a couple of points. The Mustangs time out to recenter and quickly came back to win the set 25-16.

The third set was substantially closer. A service ace and reception errors allowed Western to open the set ahead, 8-4. A couple of service errors allowed McMaster a couple of points, but the Mustangs continued to push ahead 13-9. The Marauders would eventually tie the set at 15-15. Western pushed back to lead 19-17, but the Marauders earned several kills to again tie things up at 21-21. The teams would continue this trend all the way to 25-25 pushing into overtime. The Mustangs earned 2 consecutive points to take the round 27-25.

Western was unable to maintain this momentum into the final two sets. McMaster maintained a steady two point lead at the beginning of the 4th set. Though the teams alternated between effective attacks, McMaster took the lead 9-5. The Mustangs took a timeout to recenter, and they came back to earn 3 consecutive points. Though Western pushed back to continually close deficits to ties, they eventually lost the set 23-25.

The final set saw much of the same: continual effective attacks by both teams, Marauders leading with Western close behind. With McMaster leading 9-7 the Mustangs took a timeout. McMaster continued to lead with 13 points, and the Mustangs couldn't get beyond 10 points until ultimately McMaster took the set 15-10 and ultimately the game.  

The Mustangs return to action next Friday, January 25th against Trent at Alumni Hall.