Marauders remain perfect

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Just over two weeks ago, posters were plastered on walls around campus advertising the McMaster Men’s Volleyball home and season opener on Oct. 8 against Waterloo — last year’s OUA silver medalists. For Marauder volleyball fans the opener held a lot of anticipation since this men’s team finished third at CIS nationals last year and entered this season ranked the No. 1 team in the country.

On Oct. 8 McMaster took the first two sets easily and Waterloo battled back in the third and fourth sets to force a deciding fifth set. McMaster turned to outside hitter Stephen Maar who scored a game-high 29 points to help put the pesky Warriors away in the fifth set, with a score of 15-8 that gave McMaster the 3-2 match victory.

Fast-forward to last Friday and Waterloo received another crack at McMaster — this time in their own gym.

In what Head Coach Dave Preston expected to be a dogfight, the McMaster Men went out on the road and dominated Waterloo taking the match in straight sets (25-16, 25-22, 25-15) pushing McMaster’s record to 5-0 on the season.

“I think the biggest things contributing to a better win this time were our serving and our defense,” Preston said.

“The biggest factor from when we played them two weeks ago was our serving. We served really, really tough this time around,” said Preston. “Not just speed tough, but strategically tough. We took some good options away from their offense. I thought our serving was outstanding.”

Serving well is key because it disrupts the opponent’s ability to transition smoothly into their attack.

“We want our serving pressure to be a staple. I think the better we serve, the better we can play defense,” said Preston.

Their great serving caused problems for Waterloo’s offense to run their sets because it drew Warrior players out of their positions and left them in less-than-ideal positions open to attack from the Marauders. The disruption of Waterloo’s offense caused by McMaster’s great serving gave McMaster more time to set up on defense. On defense the Marauders caused trouble for the Warriors with their block timing.

“The better we serve, the better our block timing can be because they have fewer options and they’re coming at us at a slower pace. We slow down their tempo, which gives them fewer options making it easier for our defense,” Preston said. When we get our block timing down, then we can get our backcourt set up a little smoother.”

The digs came from all over the place for McMaster on Friday. The Marauders defense was engaged.

Third-year libero Pawel Jedrzejewski had ten digs, fourth-year setter Andrew Kocur had eight, fourth-year outside hitter Stephen Maar had seven, fourth-year outside hitter Jayson McCarthy had six, and second-year outside hitter Andrew Richards added five.

“When you have guys back there that are just scooping stuff up because our block timing is so good, it makes our transition offense that much better. When you’re holding the ball on defense it makes it that much tougher for the opponents to score points,” said Preston.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Marauders saw a more balanced effort compared to their Oct. 8 match against the Warriors where Maar carried the load. At Waterloo, Maar and McCarthy hit double-digits, scoring 14 and 11 points respectively. Fifth-year middle Alex Elliott scored nine points, fourth-year middle Danny Demyanenko scored eight and a half points, and Richards chipped in seven.

“I don’t think we’re as good as we want to be, but it was better. A lot of it was based on our defense. We’re getting our middle and right-side offense more productive so that our left side isn’t the only place that can carry us,” said Preston. “The more we spread it out, the tougher it is to stop us because we’ve got guys coming from everywhere.”

This weekend No. 1 McMaster travels to Toronto. They play the Toronto Varsity Blues on Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. and the No. 10 Ryerson Rams on Oct. 15 at 2 p.m.

While their record is perfect, Coach Preston thinks there is much more to be done.

“I’m satisfied with the progress we’re making, but we’re not even close to where we want to be. I don’t think we’re predictable but we’re not as efficient as we want to be,” Preston said. “As we get more and more productive with our defense, I think our efficiencies will go up too.”

Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor

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