A fourth-set meltdown threw the match into question, but the Marauders showed their resolve to come away with a hard-fought road win on Saturday. McMaster squandered a seven-point lead late in the fourth set, before bouncing back to defeat the Brock Badgers 3-2 in St. Catharines.

Set scores were 19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25 and 15-11 for the Marauders, who won their fifth consecutive OUA match — and eighth across all competitions. The victory extended McMaster's lead atop the OUA West standings to four games over the 6-6 Guelph Gryphons.

Second-year outside hitter Joanna Jedrzejewska led the Marauders — and the match — with a total of 22.5 points in the win, including 21 kills and one and a half blocks. Lauren Mastroluisi and Taylor Brisebois also cracked double digits with 15.5 and 15 points respectively, while libero Khira Adams tallied a whopping 27 digs over the course of the five-set match.

Early returns were alarming for the Marauders, as the Badgers won five of the match's first six points and raced ahead to a seven-point lead at the technical timeout in the opening set. McMaster battled back well and managed to tie the set at 17, but Brock reeled off another run to cross the finish line at 25-19.

Improved passing helped the Marauders turn the tables in the second set, and after the teams engaged in side-out volleyball to begin, McMaster pulled into the technical timeout leading 16-13 on the strength of a double block along the left wing. The Marauders kept their collective foot on the gas pedal as the set wore on, and after Brisebois executed the slide play to bring up set point, she knocked down a second successive kill to level the match.

Much like the second was before it, the third set was close in the early stages. McMaster eventually opened a lead midway through, widening the gap to four points at 15-11 when Jedrzejewska smashed a shot through a tight angle in the pipe. The Badgers were doing themselves no favours on the other side of the net, and a rash of errors helped the Marauders pull away and jump into the overall lead.

Momentum was clearly in their favour, and the visiting Marauders seemed well on their way to victory as the fourth set unfolded. They won four of the first five points and ten of the first fifteen, putting an exclamation point on the advantage when Mastroluisi blasted a kill to the floor from the left. Consecutive kills on the slide from Brisebois put McMaster three points from the match at 22-15, and after the teams traded points, the Marauders were just a pair away from the finish line.

But that's where things went sideways for the visitors, as the Badgers reeled off nine consecutive points — helped in large part by a steady run at the service line from veteran Lauren Stirling — to steal the set from under the Marauders noses and force a deciding fifth.

Putting the disappointment of moments ago behind them, McMaster buckled down to take an early 3-1 lead in the fifth, and clung to that advantage at the changeover when Mastroluisi notched a solo block on the outside. Another crucial block — this time courtesy of middle Alicia Jack — pushed McMaster ahead 10-7, and the visitors steadied in the late stages to claim the win when Mastroluisi wiped a kill off the block along the left wing.

The visit to St. Catharines concludes McMaster's play for the week, as the Marauders return to OUA action on Friday, January 23 when they welcome the York Lions to the Burridge Gym.