The Marauders pushed their opponents from the service line, and consistently out-passed them, as they won their third straight match at the expense of the Waterloo Warriors on Friday.
Set scores were 25-19, 25-15 and 25-19 for McMaster, who improved to 5-1 atop the OUA West standings with the win. Waterloo, meanwhile, dropped their fifth-consecutive match and remain second from the bottom of the division at 1-5.
Lauren Mastroluisi stood out in all facets of the match on Friday, leading McMaster and the match with a total of 12.5 points including a whopping seven aces. Fellow outside Joanna Jedrzejewska led the Maruaders with nine kills, and also broke into double digits with 11 points.
Establishing a trend that would continue throughout Friday's match, the Marauders built a critical lead midway through the opening set with an extended service run that put the set virtually beyond reach. It was a recurring theme as McMaster served Waterloo well and pressured their passers in the backcourt, producing 12 reception errors over the course of the night and taking the Warriors out of their attacking system early and often.
The Marauders enjoyed their most efficient set of the match in the first, converting eight of 21 hitting attempts as a team against just three errors (.238).
Waterloo reeled off a threatening run to close within striking distance of the Marauders, but after coach Tim Louks called time to stem the tide, McMaster closed out the first by a six-point margin.
While McMaster's hitting percentage dropped slightly in the second, they continued to hold their opponents at bay, as Waterloo managed just seven kills against eight errors on 22 attempts in the set (-.045). It was a testament to both McMaster's defence and Waterloo's own inability to find reliable offensive options that the Warriors finished Friday with a negative percentage of -.038.
Indeed, the Marauders controlled play throughout the second, and ultimately came away with the win and the dominant two-set lead by a 10-point margin.
It was more of the same in the third, as McMaster came away with the comfortable sweep of the Warriors in their only match of the weekend.
