Hamilton, Ont. - The McMaster men's volleyball team took down the visting Waterloo Warriors on Friday night. Set scores in the three-set win for the Marauders were 25-18, 25-12, 25-19 in favour of the home team. Setter Austin Campion-Smith (Bowmanville, Ont.) earned the Big Mac Player of the Game honours for his 27 assists. 

In the first set of the match, Waterloo would take an early 8-5 lead but McMaster would eventually tie it up at nine with an ace from Jori Mantha (Vanier, Ont.). Tied again at 13, McMaster would take a three point lead going in to the technical timeout thanks to some tough serves from Tyson Alexander (Shanty Bay, Ont.). 

The Warriors continued to struggle with Alexander's serve, calling a second timeout at 19-13. The timeout wouldn't help as McMaster dominated at the net for the rest of the set. A big block fro middle Alex Elliott (Cobourg, Ont.) would make it 22-15 for McMaster. Two Marauder mistakes would put the Warriors within five but it wouldn't be enough as Jeremy Groenveld (Welland, Ont.) would redeem himself with a big kill from the back row. The Marauders would finish off the set 25-18. 

McMaster would take an early lead in the second at 5-1. With both teams utilizing their middles, Waterloo would pull within two. The Warriors would continue to make mistakes throughout the beginning of the second and the Marauders would soon rebuild their four point lead. By the technical timeout, McMaster would double that lead at 16-8. 

The Marauders would push through the second set, as the Warriors were unable to stop middles Alexander and Elliott. A kill from Mantha would end the set 25-12 for McMaster. 

In the third set, both teams would trade points early on. Waterloo would take an 8-6 lead but McMaster would fight back with some blocks up front from Alexander. Tying the score at nine, the Marauders would then take the lead with two mistakes from Waterloo hitters. The Warriors would tie it back up at 13 but the Marauders would lead going in to the technical timeout with a score of 16-14. 

Waterloo would flirt with McMaster's two point lead throughout the second half of the third set, but McMaster would eventually build the lead to five points with a huge block from Mantha on the outside. Waterloo would miss their serve on the final point of the game to close out the match. 

Setter Austin Campion-Smith earned the Big Mac Player of the Game honours for his 27 assists. Alexander tallied 13 points with seven kills, four aces and two blocks and Mantha and Elliott both added ten points each in the win. Kevin Stevens (Winnipeg, Man.) shared the team-high eight kills with Elliott. 

For the Warriors, the Big Mac Player of the Game was Cameron Wheelan (Barrie, Ont.) with seven kills in the match. Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo, Ont.) scored a game-high 13 kills and setting Scott Thomson (St. Mary's, Ont.) added 24 assists for the Warriors. 

The Marauders take on the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. at Burridge Gymnasium.