Box Score A clean and composed effort from the Marauder men's volleyball team saw them past the two-time defending CIS champion Alberta Golden Bears in straight sets on Thursday, in the first part of a three-match non-conference series.

After a tightly-contested opening set that went to extra points, McMaster rolled through the second and third sets against an increasingly sluggish and disorganized Alberta side, en route to the 27-25, 25-20, 25-17 decision.

Outside Stephen Maar led all scorers with 16 points on 15 of 26 hitting, while fellow outsides Brandon Koppers and Jayson McCarthy added seven points apiece. Ryley Barnes paced the Golden Bears in a losing effort, with 14 points on 13 of 31 hitting.

The two teams enjoyed a see-saw first set, in which Alberta led 23-21 before a fateful timeout from Marauder head coach Dave Preston, after which his team claimed six of the next eight points. After an extended rally at 25-all, Koppers recovered from a blocked first effort to hammer down a cross court shot and bring up game point. He would polish off the set himself a point later, as setter Andrew Kocur tossed a high set his way and he put it to the floor on the left wing.

The hosts settled further into the match with a set to their names, while the Golden Bears increasingly looked uncomfortable, with error counts — especially from the service line — creeping upward. The upshot of that trend was a 16-11 lead for Mac at the technical timeout, and that five-point advantage held until the finish line in set two.

Hopes remained for Alberta as they stayed within striking distance into the third-set technical timeout, trailing by only four points. But McMaster remained steady and the Bears could get no closer, and would lose out on the night when Andrew Richards punished a free ball in the pipe.

The two teams reconvene at the Burridge Gym for part two of the three-game series on Friday night, with that match also set to go at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, streaming live on OUA.tv.