Bringing the full brunt of their lineup to bear Saturday, the U SPORTS no. 4-ranked Marauders showed their class in a well-rounded victory over the Nipissing Lakers at Burridge Gym.

McMaster swept aside Nipissing 25-17, 25-15, 25-16 to improve to 11-2 in OUA play and keep a firm hold of its lead atop the OUA West division, with just four matches left to be played before the onset of the playoffs.

Hitting a blistering .423 as a group and committing just nine hitting errors in the win, the Marauders were led by right side Matt Passalent, who had eight kills and no errors on 12 attempts (.667) while adding three aces for a match high of 11 points.

Passalent achieved those totals despite taking part in just the first two sets of the win, being replaced by Nathan Delguidice for the third and final frame.

Posting identical tallies of nine points, left sides Andrew Richards and Craig Ireland had eight and seven kills respectively and each rivalled Passalent's efficiency. Richards committed just a single error and hit .389, while Ireland had two errors but hit .417 on fewer attempts.

Struggling on offence while hitting just .143 as a group, the Lakers were also penalized heavily for their inability to put service pressure on the Marauders Saturday. The combination of Nipissing's efforts from the line, and McMaster's dogged reception led to 15 service errors from the visitors without an ace.

Early signs were positive for the Lakers in the opening set, as they won the first three points of the match. But McMaster quickly erased the deficit, and moved ahead 16-12 at the technical timeout when Richards followed a service error from Nipissing middle Jeremie Murray with a kill.

Things only worsened for the Lakers after the break, as the Marauders ripped off a four-point run with David Doty heading to the service line, and trailed 21-14 after Dylan Romero Marshall stuffed Lakers veteran outside Steve Wood.

There was no heroic comeback in the offing, as McMaster made good on its second set point to clinch it when Richards brought a savage topspin drive from the pipe that nailed Nipissing setter Eric Ellison squarely in the face for 25-17.

Able to hang with the Marauders early in the second, the Lakers began to fall off the pace ahead of the technical timeout, and scrambled into a break of their own after a four touch call gave the home side a 12-7 lead.

It was 16-11 at the technical timeout, with setter Pearson Stiller flushing the overpass simply for a kill, and the Marauders faced little resistance from there. A pretty connection between Stiller and Passalent produced set points at 24-15, and Ireland dispatched an overpass on the first of those to end the set.

A run of four straight McMaster points sent Nipissing to a timeout at 10-6 in the third, and the home side only accelerated from there. Winning five of six to roar into the technical timeout, doing so in style when Ireland dealt harshly with an overpass.

There was little the Lakers could do from there, and after a three-point run brought Nipissing within four points at 20-16, McMaster responded by winning the next five in succession to close the match.

A misplaced shot from Nipissing's Liam Ludlow brought up match points, and his teammate proceeded to dump the next attack long to end the afternoon.

NEXT UP: McMaster concludes its regular season home schedule and honours its graduating senior class Sunday, as the York Lions visit Burridge Gym for a 3:00 p.m. matinee. That match can be seen live on Cable 14 in Hamilton or OUA.tv.