Honouring their senior players ahead of Saturday's match, the Marauders responded to the occasion by delivering a statement win two weeks from the onset of the OUA playoffs.
McMaster swept their nearest conference rival, the Western Mustangs, 25-22, 25-20, 25-11 to clinch the divisional crown in the OUA West by moving to 16-2 on the season.
Falling to 12-5, the Mustangs remain comfortably in control of second spot in the division, and have two matches remaining.
Both teams were conspicuously missing key members Saturday, with Western playing without the services of starting setter Kat Tsiofas and star middle Kelsey Veltman, while Maicee Sorensen was absent for the Marauders.
With a rotating cast of characters featuring in their win - 13 Marauders saw the court over the course of the three-set match - it was the veteran duo of
Aleks Arsovic (Burlington, ON) and
Rachel Woock (Richmond Hill, ON) who led the way offensively.
Woock had a team high eight kills and four aces for 12 points, hitting .312 with just three errors, while Arsovic was 7-18 hitting with just a single error (.333) and added three aces and a solo block for 11 points.
McMaster handily won the battle at the service line Saturday, racking up 15 aces as a group and boasting a plus five rating from the line, while Western was a minus four with six aces and 10 errors.
Holding their opponents to just .101 hitting as a group, the Marauders induced 17 errors from the Mustangs while committing just 10 of their own.
Between the second and third sets of action, former McMaster and Western Director of Athletics and Recreation Therese Quigley was honoured with the renaming of the OUA's women's volleyball championship trophy in her honour.
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(left to right): McMaster Director of Athletics and Recreation Glen Grunwald, Western Director of Sport and Recreation Christine Stapleton, Therese Quigley, OUA President Peter Baxter
The former Mustang varsity star, who came to Hamilton as the head coach of the Marauders program in 1984, became the first female Athletic Director in Ontario history in 1990 when she was elevated to that post at McMaster.
Her eponymous trophy, the Quigley Cup will be contested for the first time when the OUA playoffs open on March 3.
NEXT UP: McMaster completes the OUA regular season with a match against the Trent Excalibur at Burridge Gym on Friday, February 23. First serve is schedule for 6:00 p.m. and the match can be seen live or on demand on OUA.tv.
