McMaster is on a run of complete dominance.

In their last eight matches, the Marauders have swept their opponents seven times. On top of this, the team is currently coming off their eighth consecutive win.

“I think that the results have been a by-product of us just doing what we want to do from a tactical point,” said head coach Dave Preston.

And from a tactical point, the Marauders have made remarkable ground. They are serving well, passing well, and more importantly, playing defense well—which is a major component of their game that Preston was concerned about in previous weeks.

“We made 41 digs in three sets against Toronto, and we were averaging six digs a set a couple of weeks ago. So we’re now almost double that,” said Preston.

Preston credited the team’s huge improvements to their commitment to the sport.

When they are faced with a challenge, or are faced with an aspect of their game that they are not pleased with, they know how to respond.

“These guys never cease to amaze me, and we’ve really focused on it and have really, really improved—but we’re still not where we want to be,” said Preston.

While the coaches have seen some impressive things both on and off the court, with the likes of Peter Khodkevych and Andrew Richards coming in as freshmen and pulling their weight while some critical teammates are dealing with injuries, the team has not yet reached the standard of play that they want to hit yet.

When it comes to their performance so far at this point of the season, Preston feels as though he is very pleased with what he has seen, but he is nowhere near satisfied.

“We’re not close in a couple of areas … not as close as we want to be. And our guys know that, so the best part of these guys is I never have to spend a lot of time or energy motivating them to get going on this. They do that themselves,” said Preston.

The captains of the team are also playing a big role in keeping the team on track, as they are trying to apply three areas of focus to each individual athlete on the team.

“The critical pieces for us is our decision making, our communication and our execution,” said Preston.

“They are allowing our guys who are pulling a fair amount of weight to not feel like they are doing this alone...conceptually for a team, its taking the ‘me’ to a ‘we’ and it’s kind of cool.”

The Marauders have just one more game left until the exam break begins, and after exams, the team will get a much- needed reset period for about a week until they travel to Florida to compete in the Alden Cup tournament.

The team will leave for the eight-day trip on Dec. 27, where they will get to be host to eight teams, with seven out of those eight teams ranked within the top ten in Canada.

“It gives us a really good look at what other teams are doing,” said Preston.

Some notable teams that will be making the trip to Florida in late December include the Dalhousie Tigers, the Manitoba Bisons, and the No. 1 ranked team in the CIS, the Alberta Golden Bears.

“This year we’re doing an East vs. West challenge, so the four east teams are playing the four west teams,” said Preston.

The tournament will essentially serve as a precursor to the national tournament, as the Marauders will get to see and play against some of their rivals from Canada West, which will be beneficial for the purpose of information gathering for the coaches and players heading into the pivotal point of their season.

“It’s arguably the best tournament in North America right now,” said Preston.

The tournament officially starts on Jan. 1.

Until then, the Marauders will be taking care of business as usual, as they are set to travel to Guelph on Nov. 29.

When Seyar Karimi approached Coach Dave Preston in the ninth grade letting him know that eventually, he would be playing for him, the chances of that becoming a reality were slim.

Karimi, a 5’6” libero, who at the time, was only a manager for his high school team, had a lot of work to do in order to get to play for one of the best teams in the country.

But on that day, he made a statement to Coach Preston, and made it very clear to him, and to his friends, that he was serious about one day having the chance to play for the Marauders volleyball team.

“All of my friends were like, ‘what are you doing’?” said Karimi.

“And I was like, ‘I’m going to do it, im going to make a statement here’- and I went up to him and said ‘hey, I’m going to be on your team.'”

Karimi knew he wanted to play for the Marauders early on in the ninth grade, as two of his high school coaches at Rick Hansen Secondary School—Dave McAllister and Mike Russell—were also the assistant coaches at McMaster at the time.

These coaches would always take the high school team to Marauders volleyball games in the Burridge Gym, and from that moment on, Karimi was hooked.

“I don’t know if it’s because they brought us here that I really liked it, but I came into that game and I saw the coach and saw everything and thought that I had to come here,” said Karimi.

Karimi, however, had a couple of major setbacks in his pursuit to become a Marauder. One of these setbacks was that in order to play for the team, he first had to make the roster of his high school team.

From grades 6-9, Karimi was always the manager of his school’s volleyball team due to his size.

“I never made a team. Every year I tried out, I was too small, and my brother always made the team so, I was always the manager,” said Karimi.

By the time Karimi reached the tenth grade, he really wanted to play. Coaches Dave McAllister and Mike Russell took him in as a manager, but decided to give him a shot at showcasing his abilities on the court as well.

His grade 10 year marked the very first time he made the school volleyball team, and Karimi decided it was best to develop a good connection with McAllister and Russell if he wanted any hope of making the Marauder team.

“Those two guys impacted where I am now… they became like father figures to me, and eventually helped me out,” said Karimi.

Another major setback for Karimi was his academic performance. In order to play for the Marauders, he had to maintain a high average in high school to get into McMaster.

When he had his meeting with Preston in grade 12, he did not know if he got accepted into McMaster yet, and he knew that he would have to work extremely hard in order to get there.

But it was in that meeting, where the possibility of Karimi actually making the team became a lot more realistic.

At first, Coach Preston let him know all of the challenges that he would have to face in the CIS, given his small stature.

After seeing Karimi’s reassurance that he was up for any challenge, however, Preston had an easy decision to make.

“His reassurance through the whole thing was overwhelming,” said Preston. “When you meet somebody like that, with that kind of drive, with that kind of intuitive motivation, it’s captivating.”

Karimi was willing to work extremely hard in order to make up for his height.

“For a guy of his stature and his size and where we wanted to go, there wasn’t a lot of room. But he said, ‘oh I’ll make room,’ and he was right,” said Preston.

Preston told Karimi that there was a spot open on his team for him if he got accepted into Mac.

“So I went back to school, and just grinded it out, and it was my best academic year,” said Karimi.

Two weeks later, Karimi was accepted into Mac.

Fast-forward to two years later, and Karimi not only gets playing-time on the court, but is also in-charge of game-day speeches, a ritual for the Marauders at every game.

“They’ll get in a circle, and I have like four or five lines that I’ll rap to chirp about the other team, to get us pumping,” said Karimi.

Karimi is also in charge of a lot of the smaller details that have helped in pushing the Marauders from the best team in the province, to the best team in the country.

“I like to say that if my team is a jar of ping pong balls, I’m the sand that fills in the space,” said Karimi.

“After every game, every time the coach talks, I play specific music that our team listens to, on road trips whenever there is no music, people are like, ‘where is Seyar?’”

Coach Preston mentions his role as a helpful one for the team, as he also makes sure that the athletes and their belongings are taken care of.

“He is the guy to make sure that the chocolate milk stuff gets taken care of and that the details get packed in the team bag on the road trips, and that the uniforms and stuff get hung up,” said Preston.

On top of all of this, Karimi also contributes on the court.

“There’s critical points in times in a match where we rely on him to go in. So he’s not just here for the fun of it, he’s contributing,” said Preston.

When it comes to the Marauders volleyball program, Preston stresses that the overall character of a person is more valuable than their talent, or their height.

“Whether he is 5”6’ or 7”6’, to me it doesn’t matter - he’s got the charisma and the character, and the drive from within to be successful - that’s what we teach.”

Preston will be recruiting this coming weekend in Waterloo, and when he is there, he will be looking for players that have the kind of drive and passion that Karimi has, but he knows that the recruiting process is never an easy task.

“Sometimes I’m wrong, sometimes I think a kids got lots of character and he doesn’t, and sometimes I miss one,” said Preston.

“Recruiting is not a perfect science that’s for sure… But I trust my instincts, I trust my judgements, and Seyar’s character is so prominent, I knew I wasn’t missing that one.”

Tyson Alexander is currently one of the best volleyball players in the country, on one of the most dominant teams in the CIS—but it didn’t start out that way.

The 6’8, 245 pound middle from Shanty Bay, Ont. was originally a competitive hockey player, like a lot of Canadian kids getting into the game at an early age, first lacing up skates at the age of three.

His hockey career would extend fourteen impressive years, with Alexander seeing success early on, playing at the Junior C level. Though typically comprising a roster of 16-20 year-olds, Alexander managed to crack the line-up as a fifteen-year-old.

When he was seventeen, he got an offer to play for the Stouffville Spirit Junior A team. He tried out for the OHL hockey team the Barrie Colts with the intention of trying out for them again when he turned eighteen, but somewhere along the line, his plans were changed.

Volleyball was always more of a side-sport for the multi-talented athlete, coming onto Alexander’s radar when he was in high school.

“I played for fun through school, my first year was in Grade seven,” said Alexander, “and then in high school, I started to get better at it —I got MVP all four years.”

Despite Alexander’s obvious success in the game, he was an under-developed volleyball player. He did not have the experience of a competitive league under his belt like most of the MVP high-school volleyball players did.

So when Coach Dave Preston was invited to the OFSAA championships in Alexander’s grade 12 year to watch another athlete play, he was blown away by Alexander’s level of play despite his lack of volleyball experience.

“I talked to the coach right after the match, and the coach knew who I was there to see and I said ‘Thank you very much for the opportunity to take a look at this other young man, but I would really like to know who that guy is,” said Coach Dave Preston.

“And the coach said ‘He’s not a volleyball player, he’s a hockey player.’ I said ‘Well I beg to differ.”

Alexander’s physical presence alone was enough to gain Preston’s interest in wanting to have him involved with the Marauders team, as his 6’8 stature is key for the physical demands of the sport.

“He was 6’8, 230 pounds and he jumped out of the gym. That got my initial attention,” said Preston.

Alexander’s technical skills were not great, but the way he carried himself on the court is what impressed Preston the most.

“The way he interacted with his teammates—he wasn’t always doing the right things, but he was always complimenting someone else who made a nice play, supporting someone who didn’t, it was neat to see,” added Preston.

Preston was able to talk to Alexander’s coach after the game, and gave him his business card so that Alexander could contact him about his options.

Alexander originally was not going to contact Preston due to his initial intention on continuing on with hockey, but after talking with his father, he decided to at least check out the option.

“I got a call from Tyson saying ‘my coach gave me your business card and I have no idea what we’re supposed to do next.’ I said ‘No problem, bring you and your parents to campus and we will sit you down and talk about it,” said Preston.

In their meeting, Preston told Alexander to give him two years to work with him and develop him into a phenomenal player, and he’ll be able to dominate in league-play.

“I told him the worst thing you’re going to end up with is two years of great education,” said Preston.

When Alexander first came to McMaster, he had a lot of work to do in order to catch up to the skill-level of the guys around him with the majority of them coming from very competitive leagues.

He did not start or play for his first two years of eligibility. He had to really work on his technical skills before being able to crack the starting line-up.

“I wasn’t really that good when I got here, I had to work, Dave had me pinned for about two years until I was ready to start,” said Alexander.

But his tremendous improvement in the past five years has gone exactly how Preston has planned, and Alexander has continued to exceed Preston’s expectations.

“When he first got here in first year he couldn’t continue a rally, he couldn’t make more than a single contact at a time. To see that development is remarkable, and how he has handled all that is even more remarkable,” said Preston.

Alexander is now in his fifth and final year at McMaster, and the progress he has made in the past five years has been incredible. He not only gets to play for one of the most dominant teams in the nation, but he is also one of the most dominant players in the CIS.

“His story will last a long time. That is something that will go down in history. I have been coaching for 20 some odd years, I don’t know if I’ve had a more remarkable story than his. He is one of those top notch kids,” said Preston.

Despite switching sports, Alexander still gets to play a team sport at a very competitive level, and has managed to make a name for himself and reach high goals both athletically and academically.

As for his decision to quit hockey, Alexander lives without regret, as he knows he’ll still get to play the sport whenever he wants to.

“I am happy I did it, no regrets. Whenever I go home I play hockey with my Dad and buddies, any chance I have to go on the ice is good. I will always play, so I’ll never miss it.”

The Marauder men’s volleyball team is coming off of a very successful weekend, not just making progress now, but also paving progress for the future.

The Maroon and Grey have managed to sign top-recruit Andrew Richards, a left-side player out of London, Ont. on Jan. 10.

Richards, an OFSAA AAA gold and silver medalist, is also the recipient of the “Mr. Volleyball” award, which is given out to the top player in the Thames Valley region. Although his talent is clear, his overall character is what Preston believes makes him the perfect fit as a Marauder.

“I’m recruiting character, I’m not recruiting talent. And to assess character, you’ve got to spend some time doing that, you can’t do that in a tournament,” said Coach Dave Preston.

Preston took the time to assess Richards’ character over three years - paying attention to his performance and style since he was in tenth grade.

This three-year period was a good amount of time for Preston to assess not only the talent that Richards brings to the table, but also his drive and passion that make him a good fit for the Marauders program.

“There’s a lot of kids out there that could play this game, I want the ones that play for the right reasons,” said Preston.

And the Marauders are a team filled with these kinds of players that manage to have an incredible resume both on and off of the court.

Preston believes that McMaster University as a school attracts these kind of athletes, due to McMaster’s well-enjoyed student experience and the reputation of the school itself.

As for the recruit’s attraction to the team, their current 12-0 record and their overall success so far this season speaks volumes to the motivation and overall focus of the team.

“I think specifically to our team it’s the culture that we currently have, that is really, really attractive to elite athletes,” said Preston, “There is a workmen-like ethic of self-dedicated, self-disciplined, self-motivated kids…and other kids get attracted to that, and It’s an easy thing to say, it’s a relatively easy thing to understand, but it’s a difficult thing to live.”

There is no doubt that the life of the student-athlete is one that is marked by many responsibilities and challenges, and Preston believes that the recruits are fully prepared based on their character and drive to succeed.

“I think they understand that there is a set of clear expectations for them, and I think we do a pretty good job as a staff and as a program of defining exactly what we’re expecting out of them,” said Preston.

The recruits that have contributed to the Marauders line-up this year have made an impact early, despite the adjustments that first year brings.

Included in this line-up are Pawel Jedjewski, Brandon Koppers and Andrew Kocur, who have all made an impact alongside the senior players.

Jewdjewski has been extremely impressive so far in his first year, jumping into a starting role as libero and doing a stellar job at controlling the defense, while Koppers and Kocur have both provided tremendous support for the offense.

These recruits have adapted to the student experience, and have helped to establish the Marauders men’s volleyball team as a powerhouse team for years to come.

For the past six years, the team has been able to attract a herd of top recruits, and tremendous athletes and people that have risen to the top of their game and have been named some of the top athletes in the country.

This has continued to be a trend for the Marauders so far, and raises the question of whether or not this trend will persist, making McMaster the top team in the country and CIS gold contenders for many seasons to come.

When it comes to thinking about the future, however, Preston is not looking too far ahead.

“I’m in the forest, I can’t see through the trees. I really don’t know if that’s our reality or not. And I’ll let other people figure that out - what I want to do is make sure that I still attend to the things that are important to our success in terms of my plan, so I need to continue to identify the best student-athletes that fit at McMaster University.”

Preston has done a tremendous job at doing that, and the success of the Marauders so far is only one small chapter of the Marauders incredible story.

The Marauder men’s volleyball team is back in regular season this weekend after the winter break, which saw the team travel to Florida to compete in the Alden Cup Tournament.

The team came back from their trip victorious, winning the tournament. But this was not an easy task facing their first loss of the year, against their OUA rivals, the Waterloo Warriors.

“Our game is really intricate, our game is really timing-based, really rhythm-based and coming off a month of not competing, our rhythm and timing was poor at best,” said head coach Dave Preston.

The Marauders last match before the break was November 30 against the Guelph Gryphons, and their match against the Warriors was on Jan. 2.

Their long break from competitive play and action hindered their performance in the match, and the Warriors were the better team overall.

“Waterloo was just too good for us to be able to win that match,” said Preston.

After the loss, the Marauders did not waste any time hanging their heads.

Instead, they used the loss as motivation heading into their other two matches against the Montreal Carabins and Calgary Dinos, which saw them pull off two key wins to prevail in the tournament.

“One of the comments that I heard that probably sums it up best, is that our loss against Waterloo was really good for Waterloo, but it was great for McMaster. It kind of grounded us, and made us respond accordingly,” said Preston.

What was key in the Marauders success in the tournament was their ability to learn and develop from their loss to the Warriors, and their ability to stay calm under pressure.

“We reacted, but we didn’t over-react. We didn’t panic, we kept our composure. So it worked out pretty well,” added Preston.

The Maroon and Grey managed to win both of their matches in the remainder of the tournament, with their best game coming against the Calgary Dinos, where they managed to win it in straight sets (25-18, 25-21, 26-24).

Before the game against the Dinos, the team was informed that they would need to win the match in three or four sets in order to win the tournament. If they happened to win in five sets, then they would lose, and Waterloo would win the tournament.

Despite the extreme pressure that the team was under, they still managed to dominate the match, as they began to play a similar style to how they played in the first half of the season.

“Our transition game, our passing and our serving was all back to and closer in range to what we like to hold it to. So we were pretty pleased after the fact not just with the result but with how we were playing,” said Preston.

Although the team was looking more and more like how they looked in the first half of the season, coach Preston thinks that it is not good enough.

“Where we were at in our first half isn’t going to be good enough in the second half. We’ve got to be better than how we were in the first half, and have to get back to a standard of how we like to hold ourselves to,” said Preston.

The Marauders will attempt to get back to a standard of play that they will be satisfied with on Friday night against another OUA rival- the Western Mustangs.

In the last two showdowns between these two teams, both matches have been taken to five sets.

Coach Preston knows that the match against Western will be a battle from start to finish, but after the tournament in Florida, he believes that his team is more focused than ever, and will be ready for the fierce competition that the Mustangs bring.

“We’re at a better position now than we were a couple of days before Florida. We’re healthy, we’re motivated, we’re close to where we were before the break, but I think more than anything because of our motivation we’ll be better Friday than we are right now,” said Preston.

The match will take place at 8 p.m. in the Burridge Gym, and Coach Preston knows that his team will be prepared for it.

“We know our reality, Western is a great team and we’re going to have to play really well to take care of that match, but we’re ready to.”

Coach Dave Preston is very aware that his team is ranked first overall in the country.

Although the ranking speaks measures of the sheer talent and hard work that the team has put in, Preston knows how the rankings can change so easily, and he knows that he and his team will not let the promising ranking effect their overall performance.

“For us, the ranking is an external validation of the work we are putting in,” said Preston.

“It doesn’t create any more pressure on us because we always wanted to be number one anyway. That’s our internal validation, so now, it just means that our internal validation and our external validation might be a little more in-line. But that could change this week, the coaches could change their mind and say that we didn’t beat York by enough so we’re going to drop to number 2. It doesn’t change our mind, we still want to be the best team in the country,” he added.

And right now, that’s exactly where the Marauders stand. They have the best record in the country, and they are getting recognized for it.

“You pay attention to what other people are saying, you recognize it, but it doesn’t change anything we’ve done. Just because other people think that we’re number one, we’ve thought that all along,” said Preston.

But the team did not just get there based on their talent. The Marauders are where they are now from hard work and determination, and they have been required to work especially hard within the last week, where they were either in practices, in matches, or traveling for long hours – so they had little time to recover.

“We are definitely working harder, last week was probably the hardest we’ve worked all season long,” said Preston.

“This week they have Sunday off, last week we went from Monday to Sunday with no break in between and Saturday off but we didn’t get home until four in the morning, so that’s not really a recovery day,” added Preston.

The team will have other weeks like this in the schedule, so this past week has prepared them for the meat of their season, where the challenges will be more difficult, and the team will reach their peak performance.

In the past couple of weeks, it seems as though the challenges have not been too big for the Marauders, as they have been able to pull out a total of seven straight-set wins so far this season.

Although this is positive for the no. 1 team, Coach Preston thinks that the start and finish are the best parts of the game for the Marauders, and what they need to improve on and capitalize on the most in their game is the middle, where they tend to let off a little bit.

“The start of our match was awesome. We are very, very focused and attentive. And the finish of our sets was awesome. We are trying to deal with the middle part right now, and maintain that for a longer period of time,” added Preston.

The Marauders will attempt to work on maintaining their overall power and determination in the start, middle and finish of their matches this weekend, where they will take on a notable rival, the Waterloo Warriors.

The Warriors have had a break in their season, with their last match played on Nov. 15, so their upcoming match against the Marauders in the Burridge Gym is sure to be a challenging one.

“They are very good, and they’re very well-rested. They have had a big break in their match schedule to get ready for us, so they’re going to be fresh and excited and motivated,” said Preston.

After the two games this weekend against the Waterloo Warriors and Guelph Gryphons, the Marauders will be taking a well-deserved break in the exam period, where each team member will have to sign up for a mandatory five, out of a potential nine, practice slots.

“We lift three times a week and really focus on active recovery of the physical training part of it, and we have these nine training sessions and they sign for five of them,” said Preston.

The major thing that Preston stresses they will be concentrating on in the exam period is active recovery.

“They’ve got to stay active and keep their body focused on the physical development of things, and not necessarily the technical or tactical stuff that is volleyball specific, so they could get up and get a work out in and then they could go to the library and study for seven or eight hours or whatever they’re going to do, but we’ve got to maintain that physical component.”

After exams, the team will be looking forward to a trip to Florida where they will face some talented Canadian teams, while getting the privilege to also practice with and scrimmage with some NCAA teams.

“We leave on the 28th and we play Calgary, Montreal and Waterloo, and then there are three other teams down there, but there’s four other college teams down there that we’re going to be scrimmaging with and training with,” said Preston.

Although the Marauders are heading into a big break before they get back to regular season action, head coach Preston knows that they will not need motivation in their time off, and will be back on track and ready to take down the Western Mustangs on Jan. 10.

“I think we’re going to be fine, I’m very, very trusting in where this team wants to go. This isn’t something that is mandated for them, this isn’t something that has been imposed on them, this has come from them, so I don’t think that they’re going to let it go, because they don’t want to let it go.”

It was no surprise to the Marauder coaching staff when the Queen’s Gaels were able to catch up to them in the first set, and tie the score 20-20.

“It’s what we fully expected,” said head coach Dave Preston.

What was surprising to the men’s volleyball team was when they were able to dominate the second set, and come out of it a dominating score.

“The second set when we beat them 25-12, we didn’t expect that. We thought we were going to be in a dog fight most of the day. They’re very talented and very well coached, so we expected to have that tight scenario and it is kind of what we are looking for too,” added Preston.

When the Gaels pressured the Marauders in the first set, Preston saw this as a good thing. It is always good when the pressured situations require the team to step up to the plate, and to play to the best of their abilities.

“If we are capable of blowing a team out, that’s fine, and we did in the second set. But, I want to know that we can play in pressured situations, so it was good that they were tied at 20. As a coach, I can’t script that stuff, but it is good for us to know that we can play in a variety of scenarios.”

In this particular scenario, the Marauders were able to come out with a win in three sets – which is a statement of their dominance, and their overall skill level that has pushed them to be the No.1 team in the country.

Preston believes that the Marauders offense is part of what has made them so successful, especially in the game against Queen’s, with Austin Campion-Smith and Jayson McCarthy stepping up, along with the middles.

“I thought our offence was really good again, Austin Campion-Smith was really efficient and Jayson McCarthy was good on the opposite as well. Our middles are quietly punishing teams,” said Preston.

Preston was also able to rotate some fresh legs into the match, with Shayne Herbert and rookie Brandon Koppers being put into the mix to give some of the regulars like Danny Demanyenko, Tyson Alexander and Alex Elliot a bit of a break.

These two athletes were given some valuable minutes that will only benefit them for their future.

“We really work on trying to develop our entire roster because you are going to need it come playoff time. The matches get so condensed in January and February; things happen so fast. Rarely can you go through the meaty part of your season with seven guys, so we need that depth. And if we don’t get those guys the good experience, the meaningful minutes now, then we are not going to have that down the stretch,” said Preston.

Koppers and Herbert did a great job against the Gaels, and stepped up to fill the role of some of the more experienced players on the team

“The matches that were taken care of in November are going to pay dividends in February. Those are investments to get guys like Koppers in, especially in his first year against a solid top ten calibre team and playing those meaningful minutes so that when he is in there in February he is very much used to it. Same thing with Shayne Herbert, who has come in every single match and has done a tremendous job for us,” added Preston.

Along with the talented second string players, Preston also credits the Marauders Austin Campion-Smith, who won Big Mac Player of the game for his 35 assists against Queen’s.

Preston says that Campion-Smith stays composed and collected on the court, which is part of what makes him such a valuable team player.

“He just has such calming demeanour. We play the game very passionately, it is exciting. He’s the calm, and composed guy. As the guys are going off around him, he’s the tether. Although you can’t see that all the time, that is what kind of keeps us level. The guys could go off, Austin doesn’t let that occur.”

Preston also refers to him as “the brain” behind the Marauders, as he sees everything on the court, and knows exactly what to do in dire situations

“When other guys are playing checkers, he is playing chess. He is two or three moves ahead. He knows what he did on that last ball, but he knows what he is going to do with the next two or three balls already. He is that much more intuitive of what is going on. He is our brain. We’ve got muscle, and we’ve got heart and he is our brain”

Preston also credits the 6-0 run to the balance of the Marauders, and their ability to distribute the talent evenly amongst each other.

“We are not really reliant on a guy. We have had a number of guys who had stepped up in all six of those matches and our non-conference matches before. Steve Maar has been a guy who at times has just carried us, Danny Demyanenko, Alex [Elliot] and Tyson [Alexander]. We’ve spread it all around and so our depth and our balance is what has allowed us to be where we are at”

Where the Marauders are at now is the number one spot in the entire country, which is huge for the undefeated team that has surpassed the Alberta Golden Bears in the CIS top ten rankings.

The Alberta Golden Bears were able to pull off a win against the Marauders in preseason action, but have now found themselves in rough territory, with a 3-3 record.

The Maroon and Grey will look to keep up their 6-0 record, and keep their No. 1 ranking this weekend, when they will take on the Nipissing Lakers and York Lions on the road.

The Marauders men’s volleyball team knew that they would be in for a tough challenge on Friday night against the Ryerson Rams, and although the team was able to take down the Rams in three sets, Coach Preston believes that the Rams still gave them a hard time, especially in the second set.

“I think Ryerson did a pretty good job. I think it really showed in the second set, how much stress they could put us under … their middles really stepped up, and we didn’t do a very good job on that” said Preston.

The Marauders still managed to hold them off, however, by maintaining their concentration in the third set to come out on top with a big win.

This win came after a great start, which saw the Marauders get off to an early lead which made it easier for them to come out on top when it mattered most in the third set.

“I know for the first five or six minutes in the match, we kind of smothered them, we kind of shocked them,” said Preston.

Preston credits the performance and the shock factor for the Rams to his offence, particularly setter Austin Campion-Smith.

“It was our best passing match that we’ve had this year. So Austin Campion-Smith had his best offense available to him all night long, our passers did a ridiculously good job in that regard. So offensively, it was really, really smooth.”

Preston refers to Campion-Smith as the orchestrator of the team, as there are some key players in the match that score some big points, but Campion-Smith’s job is to provide them with a great pass which results in their points in the first place.

“The guy behind the orchestra, the conductor is Austin. He finds out what we’ve got, what they are doing, who is going to be open and then he goes with it. The good news is when he calls Jori’s number, Jori is ready to go. And when he calls Jayson’s number, Jayson is ready to go…He is a combined middle linebacker and the quarterback. He’s got to see everything, and execute it all. So we have prepped him pretty good.”

Campion-Smith called Mantha’s number often against the Rams, as Mantha was the leading scorer for the Marauders, getting up to a total of 14 points, which is something that Preston is not surprised by.

“He hit over .500, so he is serving so well right now,” said Preston.

“He’s putting tremendous pressure on the opponent, he is blocking; we had him matched up on their number one hitter, defensively in the back corner he is making the right moves, and the right reads, and he is our cheap viagra‎ leader right now, he is our guy, he is our Big Mac,” added Preston.

The good thing about the team is also the fact that if Mantha has a bad game, there are multiple people that can fill in for that person – so it won’t be too much of a burden for the team in high-pressured situations.

“If for some reason he is not on, on a given night, other guys can step up, but Jori is being the leader that he wants to be right now. It’s nice for him to get the recognition because he has worked really hard,” said Preston.

The Marauders were able to take advantage of their offensive talent to come out on top against the Rams, and this is something they will have to bring into the game against Queen’s this Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Burridge Gym.

Preston has pointed out some key opponents that stand out on the Queen’s team, and are sure to provide the Marauders with a tough challenge.

“They’ve got three excellent read blockers in the middle, so they can shut down the middle of the court. Their libero is outstanding. He is a Bulgarian kid, and only second year but plays much, much older and more mature than that. So they are solid and really, really well coached,” said Preston.

This is something that the Marauders are prepared for, however, and Preston is very familiar with their style, having played the Queen’s Gaels several times in previous season match-ups.

“We are very, very familiar with Queen’s, we’ve played them a lot in the past, so we’re ready for the challenge, but the challenge will be big.”

Before the Marauders get on the court, and ready to go for a match, they do a lot of off-court training- which means speed, agility, and quickness work, which all takes place in several of McMaster’s facilities.

“We are trying to build capacity, or what I call “building a bigger tank” with sports specific movement and proper work-to-rest ratio. Without going into tremendous detail, we do a lot of circuit work, a lot of SAQ [speed, agility, quickness] work and we are working on some reaction stuff,” said head coach Dave Preston.

The Marauders do not get much of a break in that regard, as they train regularly five times a week, with two days a week on the court, and two days a week on the indoor track.

“Two days a week on the track, two days a week on court, five days a week practice and usually two matches. We are building [training] in pretty good; we are efficient with our time. We are not coasting in that regard,” added Preston.

All of this hard work and training has paid off so far, as the Marauders have been able to maintain a steady three game winning streak, with their most recent win coming against the Toronto Varsity Blues – which was one that they took quite easily in three sets.

This is something that Coach Preston says he is happy with, but not fully satisfied with. These are two terms that Preston finds to be completely different from one another.

“I think we are happy with where we are, are we satisfied with where we are? No. There is a difference there. I don’t know if we truly ever will be because there is always going to be something more. Say you win a championship, well then we will want two. There is always going to be bigger, faster and stronger,” said Preston.

Preston also feels as though the team needs to not get caught in a trap of playing just good enough to beat the other team. He wants the team to play to their best potential all of the time.

“The biggest thing that I am on [the team] about is trying not to let them do what they can get away with. Can we get away with playing at this level to beat this team? That is a trap we do not want to get into. We want to play at our absolute best as often as possible, as long as possible.”

This is why the Marauders are currently working on their endurance, so they can win not just the first and second set, but maintain this power to win the third, fourth and fifth sets as well, not allowing the team they are facing to make a comeback.

Preston thinks that online viagra in order for the Marauders to pull out a clean, and close-to-perfect win, they need to concentrate on communication.

“What we are working on right now is making better decisions at the time that they need to be made, communicating those decisions to each other and then executing the game plan that is designed around that decision,” said Preston.

There is not a lack of communication with the team; but he feels as though it can be developed further to make the Marauders close to perfect.

“It is not a lack, it is a development. We cannot do stage four, until we have done stages one, two and three. We have one, two and three in place now. We can start to move on to stage four and then we can do it faster, which is stage five” added Preston.

In the game against the Toronto Varsity Blues, the Marauders were able to demonstrate their dominance, with Jayson McCarthy standing out as the player of the game, with 12 points for the Marauders, converting seven of 15 hitting attempts and adding two service aces, two solo blocks and two block assists.

This is something that Preston knows is a combination of natural talent, hard work and determination.

“The stuff that he has been working hard at is his blocking and his serving. What people saw on Saturday afternoon was a result of him putting in probably 18 months of hard work…He has some God-given natural talent and we are very blessed and thankful that he is a Marauder. But, he works his tail off at certain things too” said Preston.

Preston, McCarthy and the Marauders will try and bring their talent to the game against the Ryerson Rams, where they will be up against powerful hitter Robert Wojcik, who Preston believes will be a force to be reckoned with.

“Robert Wojcik is a load. He was on Team Ontario with a number of our guys this summer, and he’s similar to Jayson McCarthy. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s dynamic, and he carries that Ryerson team. They’ve got a lot of other pieces around him, but we’re talking about one of the eighth ranked teams in the country. These guys are great.”

Preston and his No. 2 ranked team are up for whatever challenge Robert Wojcik and the Rams may bring, however, and are excited to play against a team that Preston knows will bring their best game to the Burridge Gym this Friday night at 8:00 p.m.

“We don’t want to win because everyone else is a little bit worse than us. We expect them to be on top of their game on Friday, no doubt about it. And we will be too.”

When the Marauders stepped into Alumni Hall in London, Ont. they knew that they would be facing a difficult team, under difficult circumstances.

“I knew it was going to be a battle. Rarely, do you go into London and come out with an easy victory. I’ve been in this game for 20 years and I do not think it has ever happened,” said head coach Dave Preston.

Although McMaster was able to get off to a quick lead early, leading the match 2-0, the team found themselves struggling in the third and fourth set, when the Mustangs began to make a comeback to tie the match, 2-2.

“The first two sets, we played really well, but we let up a little in the third,” said Preston.

In the third and fourth set of the match, the Marauders began to not play to their potential, which gave the Mustangs some added confidence.

“The third and fourth set we just didn’t look like we were paying attention to the details as much. We weren’t as engaged in the match. We were playing, but we weren’t completely on top of things and it cost us.”

Preston believes that the Marauders serving got a little out of control, which the Mustangs capitalized on and took advantage of in the third and fourth sets.

“Our serving pressure got a little loose. We started to miss some and the ones that we were putting in, weren’t putting them under any strain. Because we weren’t putting them under as much serving pressure, their offence began to get smoother,” added Preston.

Although most would be panicked in a comeback situation, against a team that is on their home court, and feeling confident, Preston and his team were cool, calm and collected going into the fifth set, which is exactly what ended up bringing them to the win.

“I really like how we handle ourselves in those situations; we don’t panic. It is composure and confidence. A lot of teams want it and coaches know that it is a necessary ingredient, but our [players] know how to play games on a line. We don’t panic, we stick together,” said Preston.

The Marauders have proven their ability to keep their composure in pressured situations. In the past six games they have played (preseason included), they have gone to five sets four times. Out of those four times, they have been able to come out on the other end victorious for all of them.

In their victory against Western, Preston made sure to credit outside hitter Jori Mantha in the win.

“Jori Mantha was ridiculous. Stephen Maar and Jayson McCarthy got some kills and stuff, but a portion of that is the attention that Jori is drawing…Jayson and Stephen played very well. Our middles did cheap viagra ship next day as well, but Jori was really good. He was very efficient, very calculated and a go-to guy the whole time.”

Besides the individual efforts, it is clear that the entire team has the confidence, and faith in themselves to pull off a big win, and Preston has the same amount of confidence and faith in his team as well.

“I have 100% faith. You get the right kids, who are here for the right reasons, you got faith…Panic of ‘will this person do what is required’, not at all. I trust them. When it comes down to that, these [players] get it.”

This game is in the past now, and crossed off the list. Preston takes each game, and dissects it as not just a building block, but also a process to where they would like to be in the peak of their season – which will be at the OUA, and CIS Championships.

But before they think too far ahead, they will need to try and beat the Toronto Varsity Blues, a team that will try to take down the Marauders early on so they do not get over-confident

“Getting two wins in a row was important to us, but they are over. We got to move on and Toronto is coming in trying to knock us off, we know that. We are prepared for that. We are focused still on our side of the net.”

The Marauders will bring this focus into the game against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. in the Burridge Gym.