London, ON - The Lancer men's volleyball team was unable to hold on to a two set lead and dropped a five-set game 3-2 (25-16, 25-21, 14-25, 23-25, 11-15) to the host Western Mustangs on Friday night in London.
 
Windsor heads into Sunday's game against the defending OUA champion McMaster Marauders with a 4-6 record, while the Mustangs improve to 5-5 on the year and sit just above the Lancers in the standings.
 
The Lancers had a balanced attack with Jake MacNeil, Gabe Burlacu, and Greg Simone each contributing 13 kills in the game. Burlacu finished the game with a team-high 19.5 points. Adam Thompson contributed 11 kills in the loss.
 
After opening up the first set with a Mustang blocking error, the two teams mirrored each other and traded kills and errors one for one. Capitalizing on the defensive errors of the purple and white, Windsor pulled away and left the Mustangs trailing 6-10.
 
Keeping the Mustangs at an arm's length and maintaining their lead, the Lancers forced the Mustangs into a timeout at 11-19, and again at 14-21.
 
Windsor quickly hammered out the remaining points, interrupted only by one Mustangs kill, and a missed serve to end the set at 16-25.
 
The Lancers again were the first up on the scoreboard, but had yet to break away from the Mustangs at 5-5.  Utilizing strong blocks the Mustangs remained tight to the Windsor score at 9-12.
 
With the Lancers pulling ahead of the hosts 16-12, the Mustangs called their first timeout of the set. Returning to the court, the Lancers demonstrated powerful attacks and consistent serving, pushing them further ahead of the Mustangs 21-14.
 
The Mustangs adjusted against the Lancers with powerful blocks and returned to close the gap at 19-23. However, they were unable to hold off the Lancers from their last few points and the second set ended at 21-25 on a Mustang defensive error.
 
Opening up the third set with renewed vigor, the Mustangs were ahead for the first time in the match and pushed the Lancers to call a timeout at 6-1. Continuing to hammer through blocks and improving upon defensive play, the Mustangs brought the score to 13-5 and prompted a second timeout from Windsor.
 
The Mustangs continued to dominate the Lancers with a series of strong attacks and an impenetrable defense to close out the third set 25-14 following a blocking error from Windsor.
 
The fourth set, much like those previous, began with an exchange of points that left the teams tied at 10-10. Pulling ahead after consecutive Mustang errors, the Lancers pulled ahead at 10-12 and extended their lead to four points. Forced into a timeout at 16-20, the Mustangs struggled with the defensive holes that were exploited by the Lancers earlier in the match.
 
The Mustangs scored two consecutive points with a kill and block to force the Lancers into a timeout of their own.
 
Seemingly unaffected by the interruption, the Mustangs quickly eradicated the point gap to tie up the match at 21-21 following another Windsor timeout. The teams traded points again with the Mustangs eventually clinching the set with a 25-23 score.
 
The Mustangs took a 4-1 lead to open the fifth set causing Windsor to call an early timeout. Despite Western maintaining the lead throughout the set, Windsor stalled the Mustangs at fourteen points as they rallied to close the point gap.
 
However, ending on a kill, the Mustangs won the final set 15-11.
 
Windsor will host the McMaster Marauders on Sunday January 11th at 4:00pm at the St. Denis Centre. The game can be viewed live at www.oua.tv.