London, ON – The Mustangs brought the heat to what was otherwise a frosty weekend, shutting out the Royal Military College of Canada (R.M.C.C.) on Saturday, January 18^th at 6:00 PM.
 
From the start, the Mustangs didn't hesitate to spring ahead of the Paladins, racking up 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the game while their opposition sat six points behind them with a mere four. The Royal Military College of Canada finally regained possession after Western's Rachel Grove put a bit too much power behind her serve. With this advantage, the Paladins managed another four points, but it didn't matter. Western continued to blow ahead of the visiting team as the score paused at 16-8 for the technical timeout. After two beautiful, consecutive kills by Western's Carly Kimmett, the first set began to take a turn; the Paladins quickly earned a steak of points as the score raised to 24-18 for Western. Unfortunately, the visiting team's comeback came a bit too far along in the set and the Paladins couldn't snag the seven points they needed in the time it took for Western to help themselves to the winning point. The home team locked down the first set with an end score of 25-19. 
 
Western began the second set with the same enthusiasm as the first, but the Paladins seemed to have warmed up. While the Mustangs began with a comfortable lead, the opposition met them in a tie at 7-7. It was then that Western decided to kick it into high gear, seemingly playing some mind games with the Paladins; they raked in an additional thirteen points as the scoreboard showed 20-11. The Royal Military College of Canada snagged possession of the ball as their head coach, Joely Christian, urged them to focus on their mental game – a wise piece of advice. At 23-15, Western's head coach Melissa Bartlett swapped Jessica Lamback in, taking Maya Soicher out. The Mustangs scooped up two more points with ease and locked down their second set win of the night with 25-16.
 
At this point in the game, winning the third set would mean two very different things for each team; for Western, it would result in a 3-0 shutout victory, but for R.M.C.C., it would mean at least one more shot at overcoming the Mustangs. The home team returned to the court reeling with momentum, stealing six points before the Paladins had the chance to earn one. With 6-0, the opposition's coach Christian signaled for their first timeout of the third set. The Paladins came back to the game seemingly reinvigorated, pushing forward to gain seven points, but eventually falling behind again. With the scoreboard showing 16-7, the technical timeout was taken and both teams got a chance to momentarily decompress. With such a large deficit facing the Paladins, there was ample opportunity for the Mustangs to become overconfident and start to let their guard down. However, Western maintained their focus and refused to get lazy, allowing them to gracefully earn their third and final set victory with 25-12. With three set victories in total, the Mustangs shutout the Paladins in just over an hour. 
 
Western will travel to Peterborough after an almost two-week break to face off against Laurentian University on Friday, January 31^st at 5:00 PM. If you can't make the drive, you can cheer the Mustangs on from home while watching the livestream.