The Marauders kept a lid on a young Western roster, and came away with a fairly routine three-set win to open their conference season on Friday night.

Set scores were 25-17, 25-20 and 25-16 for the Marauders, who showed composure in maintaining their level of play and never allowing the Mustangs to grab momentum. Joanna Jedrzejewska led all scorers with 14.5 points in the win, while second-year setter Caitlin Genovy totalled 30 assists in her first competitive start for the Marauders.

McMaster caused chaos from the service line throughout Friday's match, tallying 14 aces through three sets, led by Genovy and Jedrzejewska with four apiece. That cutting edge at the line spurred the Marauders to frequent scoring runs, creating the distance they needed to see out sets comfortably.

While Jedrzejewska and fellow outside Lauren Mastroluisi handled the bulk of the bulk of the offensive touches, middles Maicee Sorensen and Taylor Brisebois were brutally efficient with their share of the ball. Sorensen converted nine of 12 attacks versus just a single error for an average of .667, while Brisebois was similarly 8-13 against two errors (.462).

The two were particularly effective when asked to slide out wide, pushing the pace against the Western block.

Having won their opener in convincing fashion, the Marauders will return to action in a day's time, as they play host to the Windsor Lancers at the Burridge Gym on Saturday. That match gets underway at 6:00 p.m.