Box Score Toronto - The McMaster Marauders visited the Ryerson Rams on Saturday afternoon in Toronto, but would fall 3-1 at Ryerson's new Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The first set was not as sharp as Rams fans are accustomed to seeing as Ryerson tallied just seven kills. The Rams remained in the set as McMaster couldn't settle into an offensive rhythm either, committing ten attack errors and five service errors to hand Ryerson an extra 15 points.
Despite the Marauders' woes, Shannon McRobert (Whitby, Ont.) had three blocks in the set to help McMaster take a 25-23 decision to lead 1-0.
The teams matched each other early in the second set but the Rams put together a six point run to turn a 10-8 deficit into a 14-10 lead. The gap grew to as many as nine as the Rams took a 23-14 lead but McMaster wasn't ready to throw in the towel as they took seven of the next eight points to make it 24-21 in favour of the Rams. Chelsea Briscoe (Georgetown, Ont.) finished things off with authority for Ryerson as she registered her third block of the game to take the second set 25-21 and tie the match at 1-1.
The Rams racked up 16 kills in the third set led by five each from Emily Nicholishen (Whitby, Ont.) and Alex Whyte (Whitby, Ont.) to power their way to a 25-20 victory and take a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth, the Rams built a 12-7 lead but McMaster rallied with six straight points to take a 13-12 lead. Lauren Skelly (Whitby, Ont.) led the comeback with back-to-back kills which forced a Ryerson timeout.
Ryerson responded with a six point run of their own to nullify the Marauders' comeback as they reclaimed a 19-14 lead. Emily Varga (Rodney, Ont.) came into the match for her serving prowess and executed to perfection as she recorded a service ace to end the set at 25-17 for Ryerson to take a 3-1 match victory.
Emily Nicholishen finished with a game-high 11 kills while Alex Whyte added ten in the victory. Chelsea Briscoe finished with just six kills but posted a game-high five blocks to aid the Rams.
McRobert finished with a team-high ten kills and four blocks for the Marauders.
McMaster takes on the Toronto Varsity Blues on Sunday at 1pm.
