Back in time with McMaster men's volleyball

By: Griffin Marsh

Entering the Oct. 28 season-opener against the Guelph Gryphons, the McMaster men’s volleyball team will tell you that this has not been a regular off-season. To understand that, one must look back to the end of last season, to when McMaster hosted the Canadian Interuniveristy Sport Men’s Volleyball Championships in Burridge Gym.

The championship game was on March 12 and the top-seeded Marauders faced Trinity Western University for the title. The game ended in Trinity Western’s favour, a result that would shake up the Marauder locker room for months to come.

“I think anytime you handle an adversity of that magnitude, it really defines your character,” said head coach Dave Preston.

“It look quite a long time for a lot of our student athletes to digest exactly what opportunity we had and what we didn’t take advantage of at that stage.”

Not only did that loss affect these athletes, but the moving parts that came together last season do not look the same today. Since that day in March, the Marauders have lost Ontario University Athletics MVP Stephen Marr to a bright pro-volleyball career in Europe and Alex Elliot, a player coach Preston described as “probably one of the greatest leaders this program has ever seen on an off the court.”

“Those guys don’t come along every single year,” added Preston.

“We are not trying to fill gaps that people believe may have been left by their absence. We are just a different group now.”

So what does the reality of a different group look like for this season of men’s volleyball at McMaster?

The answer is exciting. McMaster enters the season ranked third in the country after a pre-season where results and confidence seemed to improve with every match.

The pre-season began on Sept. 23 at the University of Alberta, where McMaster lost three games over the weekend without winning a single set, something that has not happened in the last decade, according to Preston.

October marked a turning point for the team, with confidence-boosting victories over second-ranked TWU on Oct. 2 and fourth ranked University of Manitoba on Oct. 15.

Besides the results, the loss of all-Canadian setter Andrew Kocur to injury pre-season continues to show this team’s grit. Third-year Andrew Richards has answered the call and showed his flexibility, filling into the vacant setter position.

This shift has also allowed players such as Connor Santoni, Craig Ireland, and Matt Passalent to step up and fill gaps at outside hitter. All in all, this team is starting to click and it is clear that the chemistry growing day in day out.

While the flexibility and depth in this team is clear today, the future is also very exciting. Sophomore Matt Passalent and freshmen Jordan Pereira spent their summers with the Canadian junior national team, competing in the North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Continental Championships. Those championships saw Pereira named Best Passer, Digger and Libero at the tournament, and both players received valuable experience against some excellent competition.

Freshman David Doty also joins the Marauders, bringing a completive spirit and a summer of experience with the Canadian youth national team.

Forgetting about the past and ignoring the future beyond this current season, the goals of this team in the present remain the same.

“[We’re going to] try and secure as much home court advantage through the regular season as possible so we can have home court advantage through the playoffs, and then challenge for an OUA championship and three more matches for a CIS championship,” said coach Preston.

“[We’ll] take the 17 league matches one match at a time and try and put ourselves in a position for that,” added Preston, commenting that this OUA league is tough and no team will have a simple walk to home court advantage.

That journey got underway in a positive manner last Friday, as the team settled into a three sets to zero victory over Guelph.

Up next, the men travel to Peterborough to face the Trent University on Nov. 4, followed by York back at home on Nov. 5. Settle in sports fans, we have another exciting volleyball season ahead of us.

Players to Watch

Andrew Richards 

With the loss of Andrew Kocur to injury, third-year Andrew Richards has been thrust into a big time role on this team. “The mindset really is to just take it one day at a time and welcome the process,” said Richards. Richards is one of the three members of the team’s leadership council, and plays a big role for this team on and off the court. At the end of winter term 2016, Richards was awarded the Wilson Leadership Award for his notable contributions academically, athletically, and in the community. When asked how he balances it all, Richards responded: “It can get busy at times but it is well worth it… The Wilson Scholar Leadership award has been an amazing opportunity, one that I will never take for granted.” Richards is a true leader and one we will hear a lot about this year.