Thursday, February 4th 2010

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Having won eleven consecutive matches entering play this past weekend, the McMaster Marauders women’s volleyball team was undoubtedly the squad to beat in the OUA. Unfortunately for Ontario’s premier volleyballers, that’s exactly what the Brock Badgers did on Friday night.

In a Jekyll and Hyde weekend doubleheader, the Marauders dropped their first match to the fourth-placed Badgers on Friday (18-25, 24-26, 25-22, 17-25), before sweeping aside their chief rivals from Waterloo on Saturday (25-18, 26-28, 25-22, 25-17). The split moves McMaster’s record to 14-2 on the year, keeping them four points clear of the Warriors for first place in the OUA West standings.

In Friday’s upset, the Badgers sent an ominous sign in the first set, roundly beating the Marauders and taking the opening frame in routine fashion. McMaster would knuckle down in the second stanza, but despite their best efforts, Brock would show resiliency in eking out a close decision. With their backs against the ropes, the Marauders produced a much better performance in the third set, winning it 25-22 to force the match to a fourth frame.

However, the Badgers were not to be denied, and they closed out the game emphatically in the fourth, overturning whatever momentum McMaster had built in their comeback effort. Veteran hitter Kaila Janssen led the Marauders and the match with a final tally of 19 points on the night, including 14 kills. Second year star Shannon McRobert followed close behind, chipping in 18 points, including 11 kills and 5 solo blocks.

With their winning streak snapped at 11 games, the Marauders produced a wholly different display for the hometown Burridge crowd, overcoming their divisional rivals from Waterloo in four sets. In the first set, McMaster jumped out to an early lead, and went into the first technical timeout with an 8-5 advantage after the Warriors unceremoniously dumped a serve into the net. However, after Lauren Skelly misfired on an attack at net, Waterloo would find the corner paint with a well-placed kill, to level the set at 10.

McMaster would regain the advantage permanently when Janssen fired off the Waterloo block, and Sarah Kiernan came up with a highlight-reel leaping kill to bring the score to 16-14. After an intelligent McRobert tip brought the Marauders to set point, a signature smash from fourth year marksman Larissa Puhach would wrap up the first frame in McMaster’s favour.

The second set proved to be a much tighter affair than its predecessor, as Waterloo ground out a victory in extra points. The period began in disaster for the Marauders, who surrendered the first five points to their opponents. However, the home side would climb back into contention with the help of continued power from Janssen and Kiernan, along with the typically stingy defence of Meagan Nederveen.

Long, physical rallies began to dominate the set, and McMaster would come to rue their missed chances when a valiant dig from star setter Jennifer Holt was wasted at 19-16. The Marauders looked to be on the verge of victory at 22-17, before a string of errors and a dogged Waterloo attack overcame the deficit. Eventually, the Warriors would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, sealing the set after hammering a last-gasp attack off of the helpless McMaster frontline.

In the third stanza, an early Marauder lead gave way to yet another dogfight, paving the way for the most emotionally charged period of the match. After initially winning 4 of the first 5 points of the set, McMaster fell into disarray, and watched their advantage vanish into mid-set. Trailing 18-19 in the late stages, the Marauders swung momentum firmly in their favour when they benefitted from a miraculous stabbed dig from the diminutive Nederveen, setting up an easy tip for Laura Cobb.

From here, Sarah Kiernan took over, combining with Puhach for a strong dual block, before authoritatively smashing and tipping kills to give her squad a set point. Shannon McRobert ended the titanic struggle with an exclamation point, laying waste to the Warrior backcourt with an accelerated kill.

After the drama of the third frame, Waterloo looked entirely unprepared to fight for the fourth, and they would fall to defeat without much ado. With the Warriors entirely in shambles, McMaster claimed 13 of the set’s first 16 points, effectively ending the Waterloo challenge. Despite a small resurgence in the dying minutes of the match, the Warriors were a beaten group, and the newly introduced Margot Randall would bring up a match point by following a precision kill down the right sideline with another off of opposition fingertips.

Kiernan and Randall would close proceedings together with a match-ending combination block, to seal the important game in McMaster’s favour. Meagan Nederveen was awarded the player of the game honours for the Marauders for a second consecutive home game, on the basis of another sterling defensive effort. The libero led all players on court with a grand total of 21 digs for the match. The influential Sarah Kiernan led the scoring charts with 18 points in the win.

The victory of this past weekend marks the Marauders’ last home contest of the conference season, as they will now close out their campaign with a string of three road games. The first two will be staged this coming weekend, as the ladies visit Guelph to take on the Gryphons on Friday night, before travelling to Toronto for an absorbing encounter with the pace-setters of the OUA East on Sunday afternoon.