Thanksgiving tournament brings positive results

The Mizuno Classic is the first home action the Marauders have seen this year after opening their 2012-13 season with tournaments in Ottawa and Montreal. Some of the teams who made their way to McMaster this past weekend for the tournament included: Brock, Guelph, Lakehead, Royal Military College, Ryerson, Western and York. Marauder fans definitely had a lot to be excited about following the women’s performance this weekend.

The McMaster Women’s Volleyball team began the 2012 Mizuno Classic with a hard-fought battle against Royal Military College’s Volleyball squad. The Marauders looked as though they were off to a great start coming off of their silver medal victory in Ottawa to start the new season.

The Marauders played an amazing 5-set game in front of an eager home crowd last Thursday night in Burridge Gym. The game started out slow as the Marauders lost 2 sets in a row before powering back to win the crucial third set 25-21. The game continued in McMaster’s favor as the team won their second set in a row 25-19 forcing a fifth set to be the deciding factor of the game.

The Marauder contingent put forth an amazing effort in hopes of warding off a victory in favor of Royal Military College but unfortunately fell just short in the fifth and final set, losing 15-11, which would cost them their first tournament victory.

The game proved to be an amazing opener for the Mizuno Tournament this year, showcasing the outstanding talents of the Marauder players.

The women would bounce back against the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Saturday. Mac won the match against the team hailing from Thunder Bay, Ont. with a 3-0 decision but each set was highly contested. The defeat of Lakehead would give the Marauders a spot in the fifth-place match against the Western Mustangs.

The Mustangs were a banged-up squad, dealing with multiple injuries to their line-up early in their 2012 season. Despite being hit by the injury bug, Western put up an incredible fight for fifth with McMaster but ultimately Mac would walk out of Burridge Gym with the victory.

The fifth place match went to a fifth set, with McMaster narrowly edging out their opponents 15-13 in the decisive set.

On Saturday, the Marauders will head to Toronto to face-off against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues for their final game of pre-season action. Look for the Marauders to continue to build off of early success in the 2012 season in their attempt to capture the OUA Championship.