Marauders take No.1 spot in OUA

McMaster's men's volleyball team continues to put the OUA on notice that they are the team to beat this season, after two convincing victories over the weekend.

On Friday, the Marauders would take on last year’s OUA Champion, the Queen’s Gaels. The Gael’s are a perennial force in the OUA but are facing a minor rebuilding year after the graduation of some of their best players. Despite a down year for the program, Queen’s put up a stronger fight than the 3-0 loss would suggest.

In the first set, the Marauders would come out swinging and prove worthy of the No.3 ranking in the CIS. This set would be the largest margin of victory with a score of 25-19.

The second set would be closer than the first, as Queen’s looked to rebound from a disappointing result. The two OUA giants exchanged points throughout the set, until finally McMaster was able to separate with a 26-24 win and their second victory of the season only one set away.

Winning the third set would not be a simple task as the Gael’s refused to take the loss without a serious comeback attempt. But with their backs against the wall, the Queen’s team could not hold off the Maroon and Grey. Mac took the final set and sealed the victory with a score of 25-22.

Another Kingston, Ont. team would visit Burridge Gym this weekend to take on the Marauders. Royal Military College came to the McMaster campus sporting a 0-1 record after suffering a 3-0 defeat the previous night at the hands of the York Lions.

McMaster's tallest made short work of the Paladins, winning in three sets, 25-7, 25-13, 25-6. The men controlled the entire game with skill and precision, making only five attack errors to RMC's thirty-one. McMaster overpowered the Paladins in every aspect of the game, with eleven service aces to RMC's zero, and six of nine players recording a trio of kills or more.

The Maroon's fine ball control was evident as trough all three sets, the Paladins only managed a single block.

Standout performances against RMC include: Ian Cooper, whose twenty-one assists doubled the entire Paladins team; Tyson Alexander, who drilled six aces and whose serving was near-unreturnable all game; and Daniel Groenveld, who laid out for seven digs. RMC's Eric Hawn was the lone bright spot on his team, scoring a respectable eleven assists to lead the Paladin effort.

Mac sits 3-0 atop the OUA table, looking like an early contender for the OUA championship. The next match for McMaster is a trip to Ryerson University to take on a 1-1 Rams team.