LONDON, Ont. – Giving fans and senior Doug Austrom the send off they've earned, the Mustangs played through four tightly contested sets (25-20, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23) to take down the Nipissing Lakers on Sunday in their last home game of the regular season.
 
The win keeps Western tied for fifth place in the OUA at 9-7, while the Lakers 6-11 record is good for ninth.
 
"We didn't want any distractions," said head coach Jim Sage about the team's mentality heading into the match. "We wanted to play this game, not think ahead about playoff spots. That wasn't our goal. Our goal for today was to beat Nipissing."
 
Adding to the excitement of the win was the Mustangs annual Senior Day celebration, with co-captain Austrom as the sole honouree.
 
"I tried to use the emotion positively," he said. "It could be my last time [playing in Alumni Hall], it probably will be my last time here. I just tried to have as much fun as I could to go out on a positive note."
 
Bryn Ramsay once again led the Mustangs to victory as he recorded new career highs with 20 points and 17 kills, while Zeid Hamadeh was next up with 15.5 points of his own. In the backcourt libero Seth Siegfried kept the rallies going as he picked up 10 digs, while Ramsay and setter Matt Hooker each contributed seven.
 
The Lakers effort was helmed by Lyndon Sonego, whose 21 points matched his best performance of the season, and Cameron Branch – who picked up 15 points throughout the afternoon.
 
"They're skilled, they're tall, and they're physical at every position," said Austrom about the Nipissing contingent. "They play well together, and that program is going to do big things over the next few years."
 
From the very first points of the set it was clear that the match would be competitive.
 
Both teams relied heavily on support from the backcourt as Nipissing and Western were fairly even at the net. Blocking, which has previously been one of the strong points of Western's game, did little to push them along as they registered an equal number to the Lakers.

Austrom took the brunt of attacks, though Ramsay and Mike Choja were just one dig shy of matching his effort.
 
Offensively Ramsay made the biggest impact on the floor, leading Western to their 25-20 victory.
 
The score continued to move along slowly in the second set as rallies remained short and points were doled out one or two at a time. 
 
Nipissing greatly reduced their number of service errors to keep them tight to Western's score. Their defence continued to be strong as they combated the best that Western could give them, and the Mustangs weren't holding back.
 
Serving and attacks from the purple and white end of the court were coming with more strength, anchored by veteran Choja. A member of the purple and white for four years now and current co-captain, he's become a key element in Western's success.
 
While Nipissing was able to stay close to Western's score, they were unable to catch up, and unfortunately for the Lakers a bad set would tip the scoreboard towards the Mustangs to end the set at 26-24.
 
The Lakers hit the floor for the third set with a seemingly renewed determination. Picking up two points at a time while the Mustangs struggled to muster one, Nipissing established a solid lead that was only erased by a six-point purple and white run.
 
Just as the teams traded points in earlier sets, they again settled into a one-for-one pattern. Momentum would change hands numerous times before anyone could reach 25, with both the Lakers and Nipissing taking the lead at different times.
 
Nipissing, however, would ride the last wave to the end. After leading the Lakers at the net throughout the previous sets, Branch teamed up with Jack Peckham for the final kills to hand the Mustangs a 23-25 set loss.
 
The fourth set began almost identically to the third, but quickly began to deviate. For the first time all game the Mustangs were able to put up multiple points at once.
 
However, the Lakers pushed back with a couple of four-point runs supported by unforced errors from Western to enter into the technical timeout up by one point and force the play back to a point-for-point pace.
 
Things began to turn in the Mustangs favour during a series of blocks from middle Evan Hammond. Closing with either Hamadeh or Ramsay, three continued blocks were recorded before the ball found the floor.
 
"That was one of the best blocking performances I've ever seen," said Austrom regarding Hammond's performance. "I almost had no idea what to do back there in defence because he was putting up such a big wall. He really helped us out."
 
With a final kill from point-leader Ramsay, the Mustangs sealed the fourth set 25-23.
 
"You could see the momentum start to switch," said Sage about a late effort by Nipissing to close the point gap. "We had to battle hard to win it. I was honestly getting worried."
 
The Mustangs return to the court next week for their penultimate weekend of action. A series of competitive matchups will close out the season for Western as they travel down to Kingston for rematches with longtime rival Queen's and RMC before ending their regular season in Toronto with the Varsity Blues and the Rams on February 19 and 20.
 
"We'll go one game at a time. It's good for us," said Sage about the upcoming challenging schedule. "Depending on where we finish, it can prepare us to play quality teams at quality times heading into playoffs. That's going to help."