Box Score They've seen it before — the passion and noise of a hometown crowd in a CIS Championship tournament — and McMaster grew into the role of buzz-killer as Thursday's CIS quarterfinal wore on.
A nervy first set fell their way, and McMaster never looked back after that difficult victory, taking their opening match 26-24, 25-20 and 25-18 over the host Saskatchewan Huskies to move on to Friday's semifinal stage.
The offensive combination of middle Danny Demyanenko — the newly crowned OUA MVP — and outside Jori Mantha was lethal on Thursday. Demyanenko led all scorers with 16 points on 11-18 hitting versus just two errors, while adding two aces and three blocks, while Mantha was 11-19 with just a single error (.526). All-Canadian setter Austin Campion-Smith posted 38 assists over the course of three sets, while libero Pawel Jedrzejewski had a game high of 11 digs.
McMaster will now meet the Trinity Western Spartans — who finished as runners-up in the powerful Canada West conference — in a semifinal match on Friday. The Spartans easily dispatched the RSEQ champions, the Laval Rouge et Or, in straight sets in the day's third match.
With Saskatchewan riding the early adrenaline of a home crowd at the biggest stage, McMaster did well to stay in touch. Side-out volleyball ruled as both teams absorbed attacking pressure in the first set, and it was only when errors crept into Saskatchewan's game that McMaster grabbed hold of a lead. They held a four-point advantage at the technical, but the hometown Huskies did well to claw back into the opening set, and tied it at 24-all when Brandon Koppers' cut shot sailed wide.
Their backs against the wall, the Marauders leaned on their bread and butter, the tried-and-true quick middle to OUA MVP Demyanenko, who polished off consecutive kills to bring the opening set to a close in McMaster's favour.
Saskatchewan remained engaged in the second, and middle Tyler Epp was a constant thorn in McMaster's side. But through tenacious defence and the constant delivery of their best attackers, McMaster held a 16-15 lead at the technical timeout. The no. 1 seed showed its quality after the break, extending its lead and bringing up set point when Demyanenko and Mantha combined for the block at 24-19. Two points later, Epp's serve flew long and the Marauders took a commanding two-set lead.
A sloppy start kept McMaster in the chase position early in the third set, but a substitution proved important when CIS All-Rookie Andrew Richards entered the match for Brandon Koppers. After committing a service error on his first touch, Richards settled into the match, and made good on all three of his hitting attempts.
Richards touched down on one of those attempts in emphatic fashion to take the teams into the technical timeout with McMaster leading 16-12, and the lead only grew after the break. With the Marauders finding their spots on offence, Mantha brought an end to Thursday's final match as he hammered a shot down the right sideline for 25-18 and 3-0.
Friday's semifinal against the Trinity Western Spartans will be the final match of the second day of the CIS Championships, and will air live at 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. Central) on CIS-SIC.tv.
