On Friday, Marauder head coach Tim Louks said that the Western Mustangs would have to be exceptional to beat his team. On Saturday, they were.

Western and McMaster battled through an absorbing, high-quality quarterfinal at the Burridge Gym, with the Mustangs coming away with the 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20) victory and a berth in the OUA Final Four. McMaster, meanwhile, saw a fantastic season screech to a halt.

Middle Kelsey Veltman was the offensive star on the night, posting a game high of 21 points on 13 of 21 hitting versus six errors (.333) with three aces and five solo blocks. The puppeteer behind a balanced Western offence, Katherine Tsiofas had 40 assists and put her own attacking prowess on display with seven kills.

In her first match back from injury, middle Maicee Sorensen was a standout for McMaster in a losing effort, posting eight kills on 16 attempts versus just one error (.438) while adding four aces and two and a half blocks.

The two teams established a high level of play from the opening whistle, with many extended rallies featuring in a neck-and-neck first set. Nearly inseparable for much of the frame, Western grabbed the lead after the technical timeout and outlasted McMaster to draw first blood.

Side-out volleyball remained the norm in the second, but this time, it was the Mustangs who blinked first. Despite Western's success in bottling up McMaster's star outside Joanna Jedrzejewska, the Marauders were finding other ways to score. With their middles finding success on the slide, and Western tossing in a few uncharacteristic errors, the Marauders eked out the second set by the minimum two points and squared the match overall.

The third, however, saw the Marauders squander a golden opportunity to move into the driver's seat. Leading late in the set and finally enjoying a dominant run of play, McMaster saw momentum turned on its head when Western embarked on a 7-1 run to steal the set and regain the overall lead.

Having fallen behind once again, the Marauders never regained momentum, trailing throughout the fourth set as the Mustangs consistent defence stifled any attempt at an offensive awakening. A desperate, late run saw McMaster climb to within five points of the visitors, but it was as close as they would come.