Box Score It was a tough struggle, but the McMaster women’s volleyball team defeated the Brock Badgers in five tough sets on Saturday afternoon at the Burridge Gym.

The match got off to a dubious start for the Maroon as the first two servers put their serves into the net, allowing Brock to take an early lead.  The Badgers led 16-12 at the technical timeout and went up 23-18 before a late surge got McMaster to within a point at 24-23. The Marauders couldn’t complete the comeback though, and dropped the set 25-23.

The second set saw McMaster jump out to a 6-1 lead, but the Badgers staged a rally of their own and only trailed 16-15 at the technical timeout.  The teams were tied at 19-19, when McMaster got some good serving from Amanda Weldon and Lauren Mastroluisi that keyed a 25-20 win to even the match.

Set number-three saw the Marauders take a 16-10 lead at the break, and while Brock got to within 21-19, McMaster was able to close out the set 25-20 and grab a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set saw the Badgers take the lead early and they led 16-9 at the technical timeout.  Trailing 20-14, McMaster made a run to close within 22-20 but Brock held on for a 25-20 win to force a fifth and deciding set.

In the fifth set  the Marauders grabbed an 8-2 lead at the crossover, and build it to 14-10 before Brock scored three straight to make Marauder fans nervous.  A final scoring point by Kierstyn Bakker gave McMaster the 15-13 win and the match 3-2.

Mac’s Shannon McRobert had  a great match with 13 kills and six solo blocks on her way to 25 points, and she was named the BIG MAC player of the game for the Marauders.

The win extends the current McMaster streak to three and evens the team’s record in OUA league play at five wins and five losses.