A weakened Marauder lineup battled its way to victory against the Queen's Gaels on Sunday to maintain its perfect record in the OUA with only one match left to play.

Set scores in McMaster's four-set win were 23-25, 25-14, 25-19 and 25-22 as the Maroon and Grey (17-0) closed out a four-point weekend without the services of hitters Jori Mantha and Jayson McCarthy.

Rookie middle Danny Demyanenko led the match with 22.5 points and 19 kills on 28 attempts with four errors (.500), while fellow middle Alex Elliot chipped in 14.5 points and 11 kills on 24 attempts with four errors (.292) in the win.

Phillippe Goyer was the Gaels' top scorer in a losing effort, posting 10.5 points and 10 kills on 30 attempts with five errors (.167).

McMaster had clinched first place in the OUA a day before, after beating the RMC Paladins in four sets (25-20, 27-25, 23-25, 25-16) on Saturday afternoon. The team is ensured of a bye through the conference quarterfinals, and will host the OUA Final Four from February 22-23.

The Marauders were without two of their top outside hitters on Sunday, as illness and injury kept Mantha and McCarthy out of the lineup. Their absence brought Kevin Stevens and Stephen Maar to the fore, and injected rookie Shayne Herbert into the lineup.

That group proved to be a handful for the Gaels in the first set on Sunday, and led 16-14 at the technical timeout after Maar dispatched the feed from Austin Campion-Smith. The Marauders held the upper hand until the final points of the first, as the Gaels reeled off four consecutive points to overhaul a 21-23 deficit and win the set on a kill from Goyer.

It was a disappointing end to a well-contested set for the Marauders. But if the visitors were disturbed, they certainly didn't show it in the second.

Demyanenko notched three kills in the early going and the Marauders took a 6-2 lead when he and Stevens combined to stuff the Gaels' Mike Tomlinson. Queen's recovered to take a 10-9 lead when Demyanenko made a rare error to skew his attack wide, before McMaster embarked on an 8-1 run to effectively put the set out of reach.

The Marauders bolted to the finish line in the set, besting the Gaels by an 11-point margin when Herbert and Elliot combined on the double block for 25-14.

It was the hosts' turn to race out of the gate in the third, as Queen's won five of the first seven points of the set. But the Marauders strung together another four-point run to take the lead at 9-8, and would not fall behind again in the third.

A rash of errors from the Gaels led the teams into the technical timeout with the Marauders holding a 16-12 advantage, which the visitors promptly built upon after the break. Queen's fought to within three points at 18-21, but McMaster won four of the next five and clinched the set by a score of 25-19 when Demyanenko added another kill to his total.

The undefeated Marauders had found a new gear, and a level that the Gaels simply could not match as the teams entered the fourth set. Queen's had no answer for McMaster's middle tandem of Demyanenko and Elliot, and the Marauders were able to exploit the outside areas as a result.

Consecutive kills from Stevens and Maar brought the teams into the technical timeout with McMaster enjoying a commanding lead at 16-9. The hosts clawed back into contention with an 8-1 run to close the gap to two at 16-18, but would get no closer than that.

Elliot put the finishing touches on the Marauders' 17th-consecutive conference win, killing down the middle to bring up match point before repeating the trick two points later to seal the fourth by a score of 25-22.