Friday was an uncharacteristic night for the Marauders. Sluggish and out of sync from the opening whistle, McMaster dropped its first match of the new year -- and its first home game of the season -- in straight sets to the Queen's Gaels.

Their steady, defensively-responsible play earned the Gaels (12-6) a win by a 25-22, 25-20, 25-17 scoreline, in game that sealed their hold on the fourth and final playoff spot in the OUA East division. Meanwhile, the loss will have no effect on the playoff standing of the Marauders (14-4) -- who locked up top position in the OUA West a week ago -- but undoubtedly dampens the mood at season's end.

Joanna Jedrzejewska put up another solid statistical night, with game highs of 13 kills and 14 points for the Marauders in a losing effort. On the other side of the net, middle Katie Hagarty was an efficient 8-16 hitting and added two aces and a block and a half for 11.5 points.

McMaster struggled to pass and stay in their offensive system throughout the match, and their team hitting percentage of .098 spoke to that difficulty. Despite the one-sided nature of much of the match, the Marauders pieced together an encouraging run to close the gap in the second set, and threatened to level the match. But the Gaels found the means to get to the finish line in the second, and comfortably saw out the third set to complete the sweep.

The Marauders will look to rebound in a day's time, as they play host to the RMC Paladins in the final match of their regular season on Saturday. That match will get underway at 6:00 p.m. in the Burridge Gym, and will be broadcast live on both Cable 14 and OUA.tv.