Box Score Providing a tidy finale for a jam-packed weekend at the Burridge Gym, the Marauders produced a no-nonsense victory to move to 9-0 in OUA play with a sweep (25-21, 25-21, 25-22) of the Windsor Lancers Sunday.
Middle Danny Demyanenko led all scorers with 14 points in the win, converting 10 of 14 hitting attempts without an error (.714) while adding two aces and four block assists. Brandon Koppers also returned to double digits for the second consecutive afternoon, posting 13.5 points on 12 of 35 hitting with three errors (.257), an ace and a block assist.
Organized and energized to open their afternoon, the Lancers led early, with a successful wipe off of a double block giving them a 10-8 advantage in the first.
That was reversed quickly by a service run from Jayson McCarthy, and Mac held a slender lead at the technical timeout after a Brandon Koppers wipe for 16-14. Windsor stayed in touch, but after an Oscar Scholing service error brought up three set points, Mac converted on the first through a Danny Demyanenko kill.
Yet again in the second, it was with the technical timeout looming that McMaster made their move. Dave Preston deployed a two-setter lineup with Andrew Richards arriving to play alongside Andrew Kocur, and would allow that lineup to see out the set.
The gap widened to four points at the technical timeout as Koppers found the floor from the left, and despite their efforts to stay in touch, the Lancers would not seriously threaten in the second. A Demyanenko ace brought up set points, before Khodkevych killed through the middle to end the frame at 25-21.
A blazing start to the third set saw the Marauders charge ahead 5-1 and force an early timeout from their opponents, and it was 10-3 when the Lancers burned their second in quick succession.
Responding well to the break, the Lancers made a set of it, but Mac still held a five-point advantage when setter-turned-outside Andrew Kocur wiped off the block for 16-11. The hosts retained that edge, and after Khodkevych executed a wipe of his own to bring up match points, Demyanenko pushed a kill deep to the corner to end the afternoon at 25-22.
With their perfect conference record intact for another week, the Marauders will next put it on the line on the road, when they rematch the Lancers in Windsor on Saturday, January 28.
