Box Score The Windsor Lancers women's volleyball team travelled up the 401 to London on Friday to spend the latter part of their Valentine's Day taking on their purple and white rivals the Western Mustangs at Alumni Hall.
 
This was the second time these two teams met this season within the last week as on Saturday February 8th the Lancers fell to the Mustangs 3-0 at the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse. This time around in the rematch of the home-and-home series, the game resulted in a heartbreaking loss for the Mustangs and a thrilling upset 3-2 (16-25, 25-20, 26-24, 18-25, & 19-17) win for the Lancers.
 
GAME STATS
The blue and gold were led offensively by first year phenom Yaila Sealy who had 15 kills for the victorious Lancers. Sealy also served 3 key aces to add to her impressive evening. 
 
Lexi Pollard also contributed to the offense significantly posting 12 kills of her own against the Mustangs. Ally Winik and Hannah Camrass each pitched in offensively with 8 kills coming out of Winik's hand and 6 from Camrass. 
 
Brooke Davis had 33 assists in her team's win and led the way defensively digging up 10 attacks on the night. 
 
GAME FLOW
In the first set, the Mustangs were the ones who broke away in the set that started off very equally competitive by both teams. Western managed to cease control heading into the double-digit mark and did not stop past the technical timeout. However, a resilient Lancer women's squad would come within two to make things interesting down the stretch but in the end, it was the Mustangs who crossed the finish line first earning a 25-16 first set win to go up 1-0 in the match. 
 
In the second set, the Lancers picked up their socks and went to work. Despite being down to the Mustangs early in the set, they managed to exercise their resiliency again to demonstrate an enormous comeback effort tying things up at 15 all prior to heading into the technical timeout. The Lancers would continue to make things interesting then pull away as a result of a solid team effort towards the latter part of the set to take the second set 25-20 and to tie up the match at 1-1. 
 
In the third set, the Lancers would continue to play up to par with the Mustangs as they managed to keep things close throughout the set but neither team would be able to pull away early. It was not until after the technical timeout where the Lancers held control, but the Mustangs continued to apply pressure in not making things easy for the Lancers. The Lancers would ultimately engage in a game of tug-a-war and breakaway from the Mustangs taking the third in dramatic fashion 26-24 to go up 2 sets to 1 in the match.
 
In the fourth set, the Western Mustangs would not shy away from a challenge and would continue to put pressure on the Lancers and establish their dominance on home court. The Mustangs jumped out to a large lead making it tough for the blue and gold to bounce back as they went on to claim the fourth set 25-18 and force a fifth and final deciding set. 
 
In the fifth set, with the match tied up at two sets apiece. Both sides wanted to put this 'W' in their win column and earn the bragging rights of defeating their arch-rival. It was another game of tug-a-war in a seesaw set which needed extra points to decide it. In the end it was the Lancers who would ultimately prevail pulling off the major upset win 19-17 to take the match 3-2 in the most thrilling match of the season to date. The Lancers now improve to 9-8 on the season and are still in the hunt for locking up a playoff spot which commerce in a couple weeks. 
 
 
UP NEXT
The Lancer ladies will prepare for their final pair of regular season home games starting on Friday February 21st against the Brock Badgers. The first serve is scheduled for 6:00pm from the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse.
 
Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.goLancers.ca/tickets or at the gate. For fans unable to catch the action in person, the game will be presented on the livestream at OUA.tv.