Box Score It was deja vu for the Warrior men's volleyball team failing to get past the OUA semifinals for a third straight year.  The Western Mustangs broke the hearts of the Warriors once again as they handed them a straight set loss in Hamilton on Friday night. 

The win advances the Mustangs to the CIS men's volleyball championship in Calgary next weekend while Waterloo's season comes to abrupt end after such a successful season.  Western will also face the No. 1 McMaster Marauders who won their semifinal game in the OUA championship game.


Friday's semi-final contest marked the third meeting between the Mustangs and the Warriors this season and although the purple and white came out on top in the two previous contests, both games needed the full five sets to be decided. After the Mustangs squeaked by with a 15-13 fifth-set win in their last meeting with the Waterloo squad, another five set game was expected between the two evenly matched teams.

Three sets would be all the Mustangs needed this time around, however, as they started the match strong and held on all the way through a tight third set to record their strongest win of the season against the Waterloo squad.

Off to a commanding start, Western took an early 6-1 advantage and extended the lead to 16-8 midway through the first set. With tough serves, including six aces, the Mustangs were able to keep momentum away from the Waterloo squad and put them on the defensive, claiming a 25-15 first-set win for the purple and white.

The second set saw the Warriors and Mustangs trade points until a turning point in favour of the purple and white when a missed Waterloo serve was followed by two aces from Phil James to give the Western team a 9-4 lead. Midway through the set it would be James again behind a shift in momentum as he recorded a huge kill followed immediately by a stuff block to keep the five-point lead at 15-10. The Mustangs would only extend their lead from there, walking away with another 25-15 win. Justin Scapinello was a force to be reckoned with on the right side, hitting 54% on nine kills from 15 attempts in the frame.

After taking the first two sets, the Mustangs entered the third just 25 points away from a gold medal game berth but were unable to gain early momentum as the Warriors took an 11-8 lead, their biggest of the match and enough to earn Western's first timeout of the contest.

It would prove beneficial as the Mustangs put an end to the Waterloo run and battled back to a two-point deficit but were unable to reverse the lead as the teams continued to trade points to eventually put the Warriors up 18-16. Once again it was James to give life to the Mustangs as he earned two big points from double stuff blocks with Garret May to tie the game at 18. Derek Kuiack entered the set for Doug Austrom and added a kill to the Western comeback, but Zachary Doherty (Goderich/) caused problems from the service line for the Mustangs at a critical time in the game to once again give the Warriors a two-point lead.

The Mustangs refused to lie down, however, and a quick set to the middle from Sean Mckay to James put the purple and white behind by one at 22-21. A kill from Scapinello gave the Mustangs the advantage at 23-22 and they wouldn't look back, with May serving the final point and Scapinello once again putting the ball to the ground with the attack as Western took the third set 25-22.

With a surprising 12 and eight service errors on the night for the Warriors and Mustangs, respectively, both teams struggled with consistency in the opening match of the Final Four Championships hosted by McMaster. James and May proved why they were named OUA First Team All-Stars with a team-high 15 points each on the day, while Scapinello added 12 of his own. Luke Sim rounded out the Western offence with ten points in the contest, while Second Team All-Star Mckay led the team defensively with six digs in three sets.

For Waterloo it was Aleks Poldma (Toronto/Warriors) and James Evans (Rockwood/Warriors) leading the way with seven kills each while the rest of the Waterloo offence struggled to get rolling.  First team all-star Scott Thomson (St. Marys/) collected 19 assists while OUA libero of the year did all he could with his six digs but it wasn't enough in the loss.
 
Western and McMaster will battle for OUA supremacy tonight at 7pm at the Burridge Gymnasium in Hamilton.