Marauders end fall season on a high note

By: Alexandra Reilly

It was a fight to finish this past Saturday afternoon in Burridge gym as the McMaster Women’s Volleyball team pulled out a huge win in five sets against the Brock Badgers.

Going into the match, Head Coach Tim Louks was quite confident after the team’s double-header win the previous weekend.

“Brock is a team that we only get to play once,” Louks said. “There is no ‘get another shot at it’. Brock is tough and we are all right around the same record. We know as a team what we have to do.”

The set got off to a bit of a disastrous start for the Maroon contingent as their two first sets were both driven right into the net. Brock took advantage of McMaster’s early slump and pounced, taking an early 16-12 lead.

After the technical timeout the Badgers dominated once again expanding their lead to 23-18 over the Marauders.

The Marauders errors and Brock’s dominance were too much for the ladies in Maroon as they dropped the first set of the game 25-23. The Marauders regained focus to start off the second set with a 6-1 lead.

Unfortunately the Badgers maintained their focus and power throughout the set in order to catch up and take a 16-15 lead halfway through.

After the second technical timeout of the game the teams were tied at 19 a piece. Thanks to McMaster’s Amanda Weldon and Lauren Mastroluisi performing some key serves in the set, the Marauders were able to even out the score of the game 1-1 taking the second set 25-20.

The third set proved to be another key difference maker in the game for the Marauders as they amped up their game right from the start.

The Marauders were able to snatch a 16-10 lead and although Brock put up a fight coming within 2 points of the Marauders, the ladies maintained their composure to close out the third set 25-20 making it now a 2-1 game.

The fourth set saw the Brock Badgers step up their game as they took an early lead over the Marauders.

The Badgers snagged a 16-9 lead over the Marauders at the technical timeout. The set was a slow one for the Marauder squad seeing them trailing 20-14.

McMaster attempted to make a run getting within two of the Badgers but Brock held strong taking the fourth set 25-20. With the game now tied 2-2 it would come down to a fifth and final determining set.

The Marauders brought it to start off the fifth set with an early 8-2 lead over Brock.

The ladies in Maroon kept it going to further extend their lead to 14-10 before Brock scored three in a row to bring the game to a whole new level. It was a nerve-wracking final set if you were a Marauder fan as the Badgers kept the score of the set very close.

Kierstyn Bakker proved to be a difference maker scoring the final winning point for the Marauders to win the set 15-13 and take the game 3-2 over Brock.

McMaster’s Shannon McRoberts had another break out game with 13 kills and 6 solo blocks in the match. This win extends McMaster’s winning streak to 3 in a row also evens out the team’s total stats to 5 wins and 5 losses.

The Marauders now break for the Christmas holiday returning in the New Year to face the Toronto Varsity Blue’s at home on January 11^th.