It was a dominant, statement performance from the Marauders that saw them cruise past the typically-dangerous York Lions on Friday night.
McMaster took an early lead and never looked back, sweeping York 25-21, 25-19 and 25-10 to move to 18-1 on the season and clinch the top spot in the OUA. Meanwhile, the Lions fall to 12-7 and come under threat by the Ryerson Rams (11-7) for fourth place.
Second-year outside Stephen Maar had one of the best efforts of his young career on Friday, pacing the Marauders with 16 points while converting on 12 of 19 hitting attempts with just a single error (57.9 per cent) and adding four aces. Fellow outside Jayson McCarthy was similarly efficient, converting eight of 14 attempts versus two errors (42.9 per cent) while adding two aces and two total blocks.
McMaster held the OUA's most prolific scorer to a quiet offensive night, as Ray Szeto was 5-12 from the floor with four errors (8.3 per cent) on Friday. Marko Dakic led all Lions with 7.5 points, converting seven of 18 hitting attempts with six errors.
The teams began the night evenly matched, with the Marauders guarding Szeto effectively, but being exploited by the likes of Dakic and Nicholas Pirnat on the outside. Both teams struggled to serve effectively in the early stages, but McMaster's efforts from the service line began to improve as the first set progressed.
Separation came late, as the Marauders punished a few badly timed errors from the Lions, and raced toward the finish line.
The second set began much like the first, but McMaster began to assert its dominance with a well-organized block, and an increasingly dangerous cast at the service line. Maar, Mantha and McCarthy were all finding the range with their spin serves, and causing defensive havoc among the Lions. The Marauders led 16-13 at the technical timeout, but immediately built upon that lead in the ensuing rallies. York had no answers as McMaster comfortably closed out the set for a commanding 2-0 lead.
Having taken firm control of momentum, the Marauders showed no signs of relinquishing it in the third, and raced out to a healthy early lead. That advantage grew to 16-6 at the technical timeout, with York effectively resigned to defeat. McMaster continued the assault from the service line, and York won just four of the match's final 13 points.
Their final position is assured, but the Marauders will conclude their conference season tomorrow, when they welcome the Nipissing Lakers to the Burridge Gym. That match will follow the preceding women's match, and is slated to get underway at 8:00 p.m.
