Challenged from the opening whistle by the Brock Badgers, and without the services of star outside hitter Andrew Richards, the Marauders were forced to dig deep to emerge victorious Sunday.

Led by right side Matt Passalent, who had a career high six aces and totalled 25 points, U SPORTS no. 4-ranked McMaster outlasted Brock for a dramatic 20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 19-25, 15-13 win on home court.

Improving to 9-2 in conference play, the Marauders retained their spot as the top team in the OUA West division.

Passalent stood as a co-leader among the Marauders with 18 kills alongside left side Craig Ireland. He hit .471 by converting 18 of 34 attacks with just two errors.

Also setting a new career high in the marathon match, middle Bennett Swan had 11 kills, hitting .412 while adding an ace and three solo blocks.

Brock went punch-for-punch with the Marauders in a losing effort, led by the attacking combination of Peter Schnabel and Logan House, who had matching tallies of 14 kills.

After answering the loss of the opening set by taking the next two in relative comfort, the Marauders appeared to have found a new level that the Badgers could not match as the teams entered a fourth.

But Brock was opportunistic, and shot out on a 9-3 run to open it with the help of six attacking errors from the home side. Another run spurred by the consistent serving of Dean Globocki pushed the Badgers ahead 17-8, and despite swinging momentum to close to within four points at 23-19 after a pair of Ireland kills, the deficit proved too much to bridge.

With Brock winning three of the first four points of the decider, McMaster was once again on the back foot. But the hosts battled back to eventually tie at 11 after an error from House, and proved to be the steadier side in the sudden death environment.

After Passalent killed to bring up set point at 14-13, Swan provided the finishing blow from the service line, brushing the far sideline with his float serve.

NEXT UP: McMaster enjoys a week away from competition before heading to Waterloo to battle the Warriors on Saturday, February 2. That match is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. and can be seen live on OUA.tv.