Sunday, March 7th 2010

By Brian Decker

First off, congrats to Mac wrestlers Dusan Milikara and Ryan Blake, who are coming home with CIS silver medals. Both fell in gold-medal matches, but should be proud to bring home some hardware. As both an observer of and participant in varsity athletics, I know how hard it is to compete with the nation’s best.

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Big time drag the last couple weeks for Marauder fans. First, men’s basketball falls in an upset to Waterloo. Then, women’s volleyball comes up short in the OUA final against Toronto. To top it off, the heavily favoured Marauders go down to Guelph in the OUA semi-final. Gotta feel for the fans and the athletes… I’m sure it’s not how many of them saw their careers ending.

I know it’s a bit of a common theme on this blog, but hats off to those graduating. It’s a lot of work to put in and there are ups and downs, but in the end it’s always worth it. Thanks for all your hard work, guys.

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Speaking of those graduating, I don’t know if anyone will be missed at the Burridge Gym as much as women’s volleyball setter Jen Holt. She’s one of those athletes that is fun to watch whether you know the game or not. A few times every game, she could come up with a creative set or a nifty tip over the net that would make you go “awesome.”

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Also, very happy to see the Saskatchewan Huskies qualified for the CIS Tournament, giving Lindsay DeGroot a chance to finish her CIS career on the court where it all began. Looking forward to writing a story about this one.

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Sticking with the basket-hoopers, I caught a couple of games on SSN yesterday – Windsor and Ottawa for the women’s OUA title, and Carleton and Ottawa for the men’s OUA East.

Have to say, Windsor looked absolutely dominant. Completely took away Ottawa All-Star Hannah Sunley-Paisley’s presence in the post, came up with excellent help defence on any penetration and had too many scoring options for the Gee-gees to keep an eye on. A Windsor-SFU final this weekend would be quite a game.

For the men, Ottawa fell behind early against Carleton, but made a furious comeback just as they did in their last meeting. There were about five minutes of back and forth action that was as good as it gets in the CIS and reminds you why it’s a good idea to get out and watch a game or two. The SSN guys alluded to Ottawa not playing their best until they trail by a few and make a comeback, but how good they really are when firing on all cylinders. If they can beat Lakehead next weekend and somehow make their way into the big dance, I’m sure nobody is going to want to play them.