Box Score They may have entered Saturday's semifinal as the underdogs, but the Marauders emerged from a four set match with the Toronto Varsity Blues with a berth in both the OUA final and CIS Championship.
McMaster battled past the Blues -- who were hosting the OUA Final Four after finishing with the conference's top regular season record -- by scores of 35-33, 23-25, 25-19 and 25-15, and will await the winner of the day's second semifinal between the Ottawa Gee Gees and Guelph Gryphons.
Sophie Bukovec led all players on Saturday with an astounding total of 32 points, converting 30 of 65 hitting attempts versus seven errors (35.4 per cent) and adding two aces. Fellow rookie outside Joanna Jedrzejewska followed with 16 points on 14-37 hitting against five errors (24.3 per cent) and two solo blocks. Lauren Mastroluisi (13) and Maicee Sorensen (12.5) also entered double digits for the Marauders.
Charlotte Sider starred for the Blues in a losing effort, posting a team high of 21 points while converting 19 of 44 hitting attempts against five errors (31.8 per cent) and adding one ace and one solo block.
Saturday's match lived up to its semifinal billing from the start, with very little between the two teams in the opening set. After battling through side-out volleyball for much of the set, the Marauders appeared to have the break they needed when Jedrzejewska killed to bring up two set points. But Toronto responded to save both and force several of their own, as the dogfight continued well into extra points.
Finally, with McMaster enjoying yet another set point at 34-33, a Toronto attack landed wide to bring the set to a close and nudge the Marauders ahead.
All signs were good for McMaster early in the second, as the Marauders powered to an early lead when Taylor Brisebois converted the quick attack through the middle for 11-8. That momentum held, and McMaster led into the technical timeout when Ng found Sorensen for a quick of her own for 16-10.
But the Blues mounted a fightback with the help of a contentious call at the net, and forced McMaster to call time with their lead having dwindled to 20-19. Toronto continued to press the issue after the break, and eventually ended the set 25-23 with an ace to level the match.
Despite the setback, the Marauders seemed unfazed as they began the third set well, and they led 10-8 after Bukovec successfully found the floor with a tip from the right. It was part of a 10-point run that the Marauders constructed with Mastroluisi toeing the service line, and took them into the technical timeout with a 16-8 advantage. That deficit proved to be far too much for the Blues to claw back, and Sorensen sealed the third set for McMaster with consecutive kills on the slide play for 25-15.
Having grabbed momentum back, the Marauders were keen not to let it go, and once again took an early lead to begin the fourth set. McMaster forced an early timeout from Toronto when Jedrzejewska killed from the left for 8-4. The Blues were far from finished, but the Marauders calmly built upon their lead, and held a six-point advantage at the technical timeout after a kill by Bukovec.
Steadily, the Marauders inched toward the finish line, and they forced another timeout from the Blues when Sorensen's float serve painted the back line for an ace and 20-14. There was no comeback in the offing, as McMaster moved to match point and Jedrzejewska converted the last of her 14 kills high and off hands for 25-18 and 3-1.
The Marauders will compete in their first OUA final since 2010 tomorrow, and will revisit the CIS Championship tournament once again after hosting in 2012.
Sunday's OUA final match will get underway at 2:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live at goblues.ca
