Marauders take gold at OUAs

As a young team whose starting line-up consists of four first year players, the Marauders had a lot to prove this season and were arguably the underdogs of the final four.

“We had a plan all season and that plan was to be the best in the province,” said Head Coach Tim Louks.

“From a probability point of view do I think we had all the right pieces? I think that’s what the season flushed out. In our ranks, we could floor a team that could compete with anyone. You can’t guarantee the outcome in wins and losses but you can certainly continue to evolve as a team playing the game,” he added.

Despite an impressive pre-season, a rocky start to the season landed the Marauders in the bottom half of the OUA West conference and they had a long way to climb to finish in the top spots, let alone get to the OUA finals.

“I always knew that our team had the potential to make it to the OUA finals,” said first year Joanna Jedrzejewska who put up an impressive 16 points in Saturday’s semi-final against the Blues.

“Individually we have lots of talent but in order to make it far as a team we would need to work fluidly as a system,” she added.

After a battle for the leg up, the Marauders eventually took the lead of 1-0 after a gruelling set ending in 35-33. The battle continued into the second set, where the Marauders had an early lead of 11-8 and seemed to be keeping up with the momentum. McMaster’s momentum started to dwindle, giving the Blues the opportunity to fight back and take a 20-19 lead, which they kept up, eventually taking the set 25-23 to tie the match 1-1.

McMaster took a 10-point streak in the second set, leading16-10 at the technical timeout. McMaster continued to outplay Toronto and eventually took a lead of 2-1 after winning the set 25-15.

The momentum of the third set continued into the fourth as McMaster played sharply and accurately, forcing two timeouts from the Blues.

Sharp serving and kills from the Marauders allowed them to maintain their lead, winning the set 25-18 and taking the match 3-1, securing their spot in the OUA finals and the CIS championships. First year rookie Sophie Bukovec who led the team with 32 points.

The Marauders had secured their spot, but wanted to win OUA gold against the Ottawa Gee-Gees to secure a good seeding in the championships.

“We knew the final was going to be a great match. We had played Ottawa twice and won and lost,” said rookie Carly Heath.

Both Ottawa and McMaster had secured a spot in the CIS national championships but the Marauders didn’t slow down.

The Marauders were confident after their win against Toronto and took an early lead of 16-9 at the technical timeout. Ottawa’s attempt to close the gap fell short and McMaster took the first set 25-20.

Ottawa then took an early lead in the second set, but a substitution changed the momentum of the Marauder’s game and allowed them to jump ahead to a 9-8 lead.

“We require different people at different times to step into the mix and do something,” said Coach Louks.

The match then showed a lot of back and forth before the Marauders had a few point breaks, leading 16-13 at the technical timeout. The Marauders took the lead after the timeout, but Ottawa fought back to tie the set at 22-22 before the Marauders pushed ahead, making a strategic kill and eventually taking the set 25-22 and the match 2-0.

A stretch of bad passing by the Marauders allowed Ottawa to jump to a big lead of 18-22 before the Marauders hit their stride and Ottawa made many passing mistakes. The Marauders played solid defense and strategic offense and claimed the OUA title for the second time in Marauder history by winning the third set 25-22 and the match 3-0.

“Our men’s team came out and supported us and we took control right from the start and that didn’t change throughout the match. I knew from the first set that we were going to win the game because we came out hard right away. Those first few points were crucial and once we got on a run we took control and our confidence just kept improving,” said Heath.

The Marauders are preparing to travel to Regina for the CIS national championships Feb. 28 to March 2.

“We were steady and we fought but precision wise, there’s a lot more there. We’re getting a chance to test that with no expectation on us in the national volleyball level,” said Louks.

This OUA championship was Louks’ second provincial win as a coach.

“It’s nice when a plan comes together. I don’t know that I would say it was expected in September. About half way through, in December, they started to believe a little more.

They continued to build those inter-player and interpersonal pieces. It’s not coaches, it comes down to players,” said Louks.

The fifth seeded Marauders take on Laval , led by a new coach, in the first CIS round. McMaster has an opportunity to prove themselves without their opponents having an idea of the team’s abilities.

“We have to address some of the tactical stuff that Laval is going to through at us. Good or bad, there’s a lot left to be seen. It’s kind of exciting. Who knows what this weekend will bring,” said Louks.

The Marauders turned the season around and played with a cohesiveness that allowed them to be one collective unit both on and off the court.

“Knowing the people you play with impacts the outcome of a game a lot more than I thought it would. We really bonded after our trip to Florida and we only lost one game after that,” said middle Maicee Sorenson.

For Coach Louks, he has some very important things he hopes the team will take away from this season.

“I think it’s a humanistic thing. It’s tolerance, it’s diversity, it’s being unique, it’s collaboration. It’s everything that sport is supposed to do to be a microcosm of life. But that gets lost, it gets muddled all the time. People say ‘I want to play, it’s for me’, but this game sometimes is a little unforgiving. You’re in, you’re out.”

Louks added that, “I’ve got some inspirational women doing things on a team level that I’m awed by. You may not see the court the entire two hours but you’re an important part of the team. That’s a hard lesson to learn.”

The Marauder women will travel to the CIS championships hoping to put all they have learned this season into practice.