Rebounding from a loss to the Western Mustangs in their opening match of the three-day OUA Championship tournament, the Marauders knocked off the Mustangs in Saturday's semifinal to secure a conference medal for a fourth straight year.
Veteran
Jacob Kao (Hamilton, ON) was named an OUA All-Star in leading McMaster to an eventual silver medal Sunday, as the Marauders fell to the Toronto Varsity Blues 6-2 in the championship match.
Compiling a 2-2 record in pool play, McMaster faced a difficult road to the final, beginning Saturday afternoon with a quarterfinal match against the Waterloo Warriors.
The Marauders trailed 4-3 through seven matches, but dramatically overhauled the tie when Clement Chow came from behind to win his singles match against Phillip Choi 16-21, 21-17, 21-7 and was followed by Marauders victories in both mixed doubles matches. The duo of Kao and
Sashini Senarath (Nepean, ON) came through in straight sets, while
Muhammad Kamaruddin (Kuantan, Malaysia,) and
Vania Wu (Markham, ON) needed three to get past Tihan Hewagama and Joey Kuang.
With that result, Mac vaulted into Sunday's semifinals, where they rematched Western and once again came from behind to seal a spot in the final.
A pair of losses in the women's singles saw the Marauders trailing 4-3 through seven matches, before the doubles pairs of Kamaruddin and
Kingsley Wu (Markham, ON), and
Sommer Chou (Mississauga, ON) and Vania Wu moved McMaster back into contention, beating Western's Jack Hall and Sean McGowan and Michelle Cheng and Claudia Tai respectively.
The match came down to the meeting of the top men's singles players, with Chow dueling McGowan and beating him in three competitive sets, 21-17, 18-21, 21-15 to book McMaster's place in the championship match.
There, the Marauders and Varsity Blues battled to a 2-2 record through the first four matches, with McMaster taking both men's doubles ties thanks to the duos of Kao and
Desmond Chan (Mississauga, ON) and Kamaruddin and Wu.
But Toronto quickly asserted their control, sweeping the women's singles and adding a mixed doubles victory to effectively end the match, ultimately putting it to an end with a second mixed doubles victory, as Giselle Chan and Marcus Waskiw-Ford defeated Kamaruddin and Vania Wu.
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