By: John Bauer

Already positioned as one of Ontario’s top women’s volleyball teams, the McMaster Marauders are also thinking to the future after securing their second recruit in as many months.

Committed to join the team next year is 5-foot-10 hitter Michelle Chelladurai, from London, Ont. The Marauders have been getting solid contributions from current hitter Caitlin Genovy and now-graduated Amanda Weldon over the past couple of years, but coach Tim Louks hopes Chelladurai brings some star power to the position.

“It is rare that the whole team gets excited about additions that are a little unknown, but our whole team is excited about Michelle... Our setting circumstance just got stronger with this addition,” said Louks.

Chelladurai plays for a Forest Valley Volleyball Club that boasted seven of the 24 women to play for Team Ontario over the summer. She already has accumulated quite the trophy case, with championships at the national and provincial levels, among other accolades.

“I decided to join the Marauder program because both the academics and the women’s volleyball program at McMaster are outstanding,” said Chelladurai, when asked what drew her to McMaster. “The coaching staff has been very welcoming and obviously a big part of the success of the Marauder program, so I’m looking forward to playing in this environment.”

Chelladurai is not the first of her family members to play in the OUA volleyball circuit. Her brother, Andrew, plays for the Windsor Lancers. Their volleyball bent seems to have come from their father, a former player, coach, and now president of the Forest Valley Volleyball Club.

In a recent interview with Volleyball Ontario, Chelladurai said: “I’d like to think my best skill is being able to perform well under pressure. A key component of performing well is staying calm and maintaining composure in these types of situations.” Considering that around this time next year Chelladurai might be taking serves from some of the country’s best, this must be music to coach Louks’ ears.

Though the McMaster women’s basketball team rang in the New Year and second half of the season with two losses, their destination of making it to the playoffs is a road that is still attainable.

After a 62-48 loss to Laurier and a 80-77 defeat to Ryerson this past week, the attention is placed on winning upcoming games and cleaning up play to get the results needed.

Head coach Theresa Burns indicated that the concentration is on future games to come.

“There’s nothing to do now, but move on and be better next time,” she said.

A key area of improvement the team needs to work on is their ability to rebound. Their two recent losses saw the Laurier Golden Hawks outrebounding the Marauders 46-37 and the Ryerson Rams had a 48-34 advantage in boards.

“Attention to rebounding is huge. In the Laurier and Ryerson games, that was the game changer if you had to pick one statistical category, ” coach Burns explained.

Now holding a 6-4 record, the women’s team must win upcoming games for a seat with the contenders in the playoffs.

“I hope the losses don’t bump us out of a by-position in the first round of playoffs.”

With a young team of players, emphasis is placed on having clarity in the game. Having a consistent amount of motivation and energy during the entirety of the game is crucial to the team’s success from here on out.

“We lose focus sometimes. At times, young players don’t feel like they have the green light to go out and take over the game. As soon as they truly believe that they can, they’ll go out and play that way.”

Currently ranked No. 10, it is critical that the team makes the needed improvements and adjustments to ensure that their season is not cut short.

“Ranking is important, but it’s about taking care of business each time. Our focus right now is to have the best effort on Friday vs. Laurentian. We are not thinking about Saturday, but getting ready on Friday.”

The mindset of playing for here and now will ultimately decide whether this team is destined to reach their end goal.

“The results will take care of themselves when you take off that day-to-day nitty gritty,” said Burns, who continuously stresses the significance of having a present outlook and a clear vision by not looking too far ahead.

The confidence level approaching this weekend’s road games against Laurentian and Nipissing are high. Burns said her team needs to “keep the perspective balanced, solid and positive.”

With fans and skeptics alike keeping a close eye on the rest of the season, it will be interesting to see how rankings change and games play out.

For now, the team is focused on winning each game left on the calendar for a chance to be in the playoffs and a shot at an OUA Championship.

Catch the next home action on January 24, 2015 as the Marauders take on the Waterloo Warriors in the Burridge Gym.

Holiday tournaments are not about the wins and losses, but the McMaster women’s basketball picked up three big wins in the Concordia Invitational this winter break.

The results of those games can influence CIS top ten rankings, which in turn influences the seeding at the national tournament. Head coach Theresa Burns was satisfied with the results, but was more impressed with the team’s growth.

“I thought we took some real steps forward, individually and as a team,” said Burns. “We had five people at any given time, whoever was on the court, we operated at as a five player unit.”

While McMaster finished the 2014 portion of their season atop the OUA Central division, the team’s play was not consistent. For example, Mac opened up the first game against Lakehead with strong play before losing by 15.

The road game against Brock saw the Marauders jump out to a 19-5 lead, yet the Badgers came back and took the lead in the second quarter. Mac would steady and win convincingly, but it will take a full 40-minute performance to beat other elite teams.

The Marauders showed the ability to perform at that level with their sweep over the winter break: they beat Concordia 85-72, bested Bishop’s 84-33 before beating Queen’s 75-48.

Topping the Gaels, who started the year ranked before dropping out of the top-ten in late November, is the most impressive win of the break.

“We got better every night. I thought we came out pretty strong given that we are coming off Christmas break, we had only one one-hour practice under our belts. There was a little bit of rust in the first game, but the next night we shook the rust right off and then against Queen’s, even better again,” Burns said.

“From a consistency standpoint, we were very good. Our key players did what we rely on them to do.”

Now, the team heads into a critical stretch of their season. They lost to Laurier, 62-48 and now have to bounce back to take on Ryerson on Jan. 10. Before the game, Burns said she thought the Golden Hawks haven’t gotten enough credit for their early-season wins.

Ryerson is an up-and-coming team too; the Rams started the season unranked and have climbed to No. 8, right behind McMaster.

A first-round playoff bye is a goal for the team, and the month of January will heavily influence Mac’s chances. In a deep conference, Mac wants to play as few games as it can.

January is a road-heavy month, with five of the seven games away from Burridge.

If McMaster can get through the month with only a couple losses, they will set themselves up nicely for a playoff run and a shot at the OUA championship.

By: John Bauer

One of the quirks of the OUA women’s volleyball season is the December full-league shutdown for exams.

Luckily for the 7-3 McMaster Marauders, the University of Toronto National Invitational Tournament provided an opportunity for the women to stay sharp during the layoff. And stay sharp they did, sweeping their three-game slate.

The National Invitational Tournament provided Ontario powerhouses Toronto and McMaster the rare opportunity to play Eastern teams outside of the CIS playoffs and preseason play. This year brought the McGill Redmen and the Sherbrooke Vert et Or, both of whom have been flirting with the CIS top ten rankings all year, as well as the Acadia Axewomen to the Goldring Athletic Centre in Toronto.

McMaster disposed of Sherbrooke in four sets on the tournament’s opening day, followed by a five-set nail-biter against McGill. They wrapped up the tournament sweep with a 3-1 victory over Acadia. It was the McGill game, however, that the women circled on their calendars coming in.

“I think if you were to ask our team, there would be consensus that playing McGill was a great opportunity .They are a hard-hitting team with a determined defence. It is always great to work against a team like this as it allows us to push both our offence and our defence to the limits,” said veteran outside hitter Rebecca Steckle.

McMaster’s leading scorer, Joanna Jedrzejewska, agreed, but also saw an oddity in the tournament’s scheduling:

“I was disappointed that we didn’t get the opportunity to play University of Toronto because they seemed like the team that would be potential opponents in CIS playoffs, as well as OUA playoffs.”

Coach Tim Louks said that the Sherbrooke game was the most important from a coaching standpoint.

“They matched up against us pretty well. They did a few things that I was excited to see because it forced us to get into those in-game adjustments, where, ‘hey, we want to do this,’ but they’re not going to let you do it easily … we got a bunch of good IQ things through that.”

Since the tournament’s format did not include a championship game to crown a “winner,” the coaches were given the opportunity to get a bit creative with their game strategies. According to Jedrzejewska, the invitational was “a chance to try out new things and give all players a chance... It’s a good opportunity to try different players and rotations in order to get the experience without the risk.”

But this does not mean the Marauders took the games lightly.

“As a team we work hard at playing all games as though they are the final of the OUA championship,” said Steckle. “Before every game we would come together and remind each other that this game is just as important for us as a team – whether or not the win or loss mattered in terms of standings.”

With the break now over, the Marauders are refocusing their attention on the current regular season dogfight.

“We’ve got to go on the road this weekend, three in a row on the road. None of them easy, all of them [OUA] West opponents,” said Louks of his team’s upcoming trio of games against Western, Windsor, and Brock. “All of them we were successful against in the first half, none of them are going to be happy about that.”

While there is still a lot of season to go, McMaster has shown over the past few campaigns that they are a perennial contender for the OUA crown, if not the Canadian title.

“Seeing that Toronto facility is pretty impressive. And that’s where the Nationals are,” said Louks. “[It’s] a hard road ahead, but I think they’re believing more than they’ve ever believed.”

On Nov. 14, the men and women's basketball teams tipped off their seasons against the Lakehead Thunderwolves in Burridge Gym.

Friday night’s matchups saw a packed gym as Marauder fans, family and the MSU Maroons were present to see the Marauders defend home territory. Earlier in the day, the David Braley Athletic Centre played to a high school basketball tournament, so fan presence was anything but lacking.

The double-header kicked off with the women’s game. Head coach Theresa Burns and her squad came into the matchup with a flawless record of 2-0. McMaster suffered a 75-60 defeat to the Thunderwolves as things quickly went awry. Lakehead’s Jylisa Williams finished the night with 35 points to help tarnish McMaster’s perfect record. McMaster guard Danielle Boiago finished with 28 points on 11-17 shooting, but it was not enough to bring the team a win at home.

Shortly after the women's loss, time came for the men to prove themselves after having taken a beating in the nation's capital a week earlier. McMaster went toe-to-toe against Lakehead and came out victorious, handling business at home. It was a physical game, as the Thunderwolves came ready to compete, but ultimately the 85-66 win was in favour of the Marauders. The top contributor for the squad was Taylor Black - 17 points on the board and 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Part two of the home opener weekend was against the same team, but the crowd in attendance could not have been any more different. There was a noticeable lack of energy in the building, but that didn’t stop the Marauders from owning home court.

The women earned a 63-59 win against the Thunderwolves to even out the weekend of play. The Marauders saw help from many, but forward Clare Kenney led the way who put up a career-high 24 points coupled with 12 rebounds for a solid double-double.

“It was about getting the rebounds and loose balls and taking care of the little details. Since Friday was our first loss, it really opened our eyes and showed us that every game is important, so we knew we had to pick it up,” Boiago said about the team turnaround post-Saturday’s win.

The men held their own and played a winning weekend series beating Lakehead 81-73. In a contest that went down to the wire, the Marauders kept their cool and the lead as time ran on an eight-point victory. The Marauders saw key help from guard Joe Rocca, pouring in 20 points.

Marauder basketball will play on Nov. 22 against the York Lions. The women tip-off at 12 p.m., followed by the men at 2 p.m. in Burridge Gym.

After a long match and victory against a tough opponent in the York Lions, the Marauders had little time to recover from that match and prepare for their next one.

The team had to travel four and a half hours to North Bay, Ont., arriving at around one in the morning.

“We left right after the game. We dealt with it about as well as we could,” said head coach Dave Preston.

The team had a catered meal waiting for them after the game against York, so that they did not have to stop on the road for food in the middle of a snowstorm.

This was beneficial for the team and their nutrition. Instead of stopping at a McDonald’s at a pit stop on the way to North Bay, the staff chose a healthier route.

“Little details like that paid off for us this weekend,” said Preston.

The team managed to win both matches on the weekend – taking the York match in four sets, and taking the Nipissing match in three. This was a feat that Preston felt the team handled exceptionally well.

“It was a tough trip, so to handle it with only losing one set, and getting in and out of there was pretty good for us,” said Preston.

The way that the team handled the short rest period and long travel time was not the only impressive thing the Marauders will be taking away from the weekend.

Dany Demyanenko and Brandon Koppers had strong weekends, contributing to both games. Demyanenko scored 22.5 points against York and Koppers scored 16 against the Lakers.

Preston credited their success to their ability to stay consistent in both practices and matches.

“They’re just really, really solid, which is exactly what we need, because we’ve got some moving pieces in our line up with Jayson McCarthy and Jori Mantha and our setters,” said Preston.

“They’re providing some really good stability for us, and really good demeanor for other guys to follow.”

Another impressive thing that Preston took from the weekend was the Marauders’ dedication to not just their team but to other Maroon and Grey teams as well.

On Sunday, the majority of the team travelled to Guelph to watch the women compete in the CIS Championships.

“They manned up and they found their way there, and they were in the stands cheering on the team. They just came off a two-match weekend, and they were there in full force,” said Preston.

Another great moment for the team was on the way back home from Nipissing, they huddled around a laptop to watch the Marauders men’s soccer team beat the Ryerson Rams in penalty kicks in the OUA semi-finals.

“When we won in penalty kicks, there were guys running up and down the aisle on the bus, high fiving each other,” said Preston.

The team also made their way to the OUA soccer final on Nov. 2 to cheer on the team.

“They understand that there is a greater good. Some of those things that people don’t see between the whistles, its pretty special,” said Preston.

While the Marauders are managing to have fun cheering their fellow Marauders on in their pivotal points of the season, they still have serious business to attend to.

The Waterloo Warriors will be in the Burridge Gym on Nov. 8, which will be a critical match and opponent for McMaster, as the Warriors beat them in regular season competition last year.

“We are fully aware of what the Warriors are capable of. They handed it to us twice last year so we know we’ve got a formidable opponent,” said Preston.

One of the major things that the Marauders will be working on before hosting the Warriors is defence.

“According to CIS statistics, we are the worst defensive team in the country. We average less than seven digs a set. There are teams out there that are getting 12 and 13 digs a set,” said Preston.

“So it’s something that we’ve been heightening our awareness to. We did it all week last week, we’re doing it all this week again.”

The Marauders still have a lot of work to do when it comes to the remainder of their season.

But there has been an incredible amount of improvements made in the last four weeks, and for Preston, the season is still young.

“We’re not as good as we want to be yet, and the best part of that is, we’re still working on it. It’s only November.”

The Marauders men’s volleyball team took the long trip to Ohio State University, where they played two exhibition games against the Buckeyes.

The team came back to Hamilton with more experience under their sleeves, having lost both of the games in very different ways.

McMaster lost the first game in three sets. They managed to keep the score close in the last set, only losing 25-27, but their last stint of effort wasn’t enough to keep the match going.

In the next match on Saturday afternoon, the Marauders were able to shake off their last performance and come out with a bang.

In this match, the Marauders were able to rally the Buckeyes to five sets, showing their full potential on the court.

They lost the first two sets (20-25, 22-25), but then came back hard in the third set to out-score Ohio State by seven points, taking the set 25-18.

The Maroon and Grey managed to keep the momentum going strong in the fourth, winning the set narrowly with a score of 30-28.

In the fifth set, the Marauders weren’t able to hold off the powerful Buckeyes, and lost 15-10.

The leading scorers on the court for this match include Jori Mantha with 18.5 points, Jayson McCarthy with 16.5 points, and Brandon Koppers with 16.

McMaster was able to take a good amount of experience from the exhibition games against the 2011 NCAA national champions. Mac will look forward to using this experience in their first match, on Oct. 17 against the Western Mustangs.

“We want to make sure that we’re ready to go for the next weekend, that’s what we were focusing on, not neces- sarily going down and playing the Buckeyes,” said head coach Dave Preston.

With a couple of exhibition games behind them now, the Marauders currently sit at second overall in the CIS rankings, trailing behind the defending CIS Champions, the Alberta Golden Bears.

The Marauders will hope to bring the same tactics and plays that they did in the second game against the Buckeyes to the Burridge Gym on Friday night, where they will face their OUA and CIS rivals – the Western Mustangs.

This will be the first match against Western after the Mustangs crushed the Marauders gold medal hopes last season in the CIS semi-final.

With four games remaining and a total of 12 points up for grabs, McMaster’s women’s soccer team heads into the critical stretch of their season.

At first blush, their 3-6-3 record is uninspiring. Given their circumstances, it is a respectable tally and sets them up to be only one point out of the playoffs.

Mac grabbed two points this weekend by drawing No. 5 York and No. 7 Laurier 0-0 in both games. The ability to hold opposing offences at bay has put McMaster in the thick of the playoff hunt. Captain Sophie Ykema said the team was prepared for the powerhouses and adjusted accordingly.

“We changed our formation for the two games. We were aware of the threats that Laurier and York had,” said Ykema.

Nicole Pacheco, Kelsey Orlando, Steph Davis, and Ykema, along with other rotating pieces, helped comprise the back line in front of star keeper Brittany Duffey.

The path to OUA playoffs runs through a handful of away games. Trips to Western, Windsor and Algoma make up the final games of the 2014 campaign. Those first two tests will be tough – Western is ranked No. 8 in the CIS, Windsor is the second game of a back-to-back – but the double-header is a nearly guaranteed six points.

“Our goal this weekend is not to drop any points,” said Ykema. “Against Western, we recognize they are one of the best teams in the OUA and in Canada, so we’re going to try to play them similarly to how we handled York and Laurier.”

In 12 games, Algoma has conceded 128 goals against, or 10.6 goals per game.

But meanwhile, McMaster has struggled to score, only finding the back of the net nine times in their 12 games.

The women’s squad controls their own fate, with only five points separating them from fourth place. Final standing position will not matter as much as it has in past years as the top-three teams – York, Western, Laurier, respectively – are all jockeying for position and are well clear of the pack.

Mac would prefer an easier quarterfinal game, should they get there, but the team beams confidence about any playoff situation.

“We’re trying to sneak into that fifth spot, where we’d love to play Windsor on the road,” said Ykema. “We think we could win a game against Laurier, Western or York, but we’d rather those teams beat each other up and we come in for the next round.”

There’s an added bonus with having the weak Algoma squad on the last weekend of the regular season, as the team will have an opportunity to get its offence going.

Players are slowly getting back to full fitness and despite an underwhelming regular season, McMaster could be poised to make some noise in late October.