TORONTO, Ont. - The McMaster badminton team ended the 2022-23 season at the OUA Championship hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University this past weekend. The Marauders went 2-2 in pool play to advance to the quarterfinals but ultimately ended up falling to the reigning OUA Champions, the Toronto Varsity Blues, in the quarterfinal.
As the #6 seed, McMaster was slotted into Pool B with the #2 York Lions, #3 Waterloo Warriors, #7 TMU Bold and #9 Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. Each team in the pool faced one another over the first two days of competition with each contest being comprised of two men's singles, two women's singles, two mixed doubles, two women's doubles and two men's doubles matches/ties.
McMaster opened the championship against the host TMU Bold on Friday morning. The Marauders started the day strong with a 7-3 victory. Next up, the maroon and grey faced the Waterloo Warriors, the reigning bronze medalists. Despite it being a back-and-forth contest, it was the Warriors who earned the 6-4 win to close out Day 1 for the Marauders.
On Saturday, it was all maroon and grey in the first contest. McMaster picked up a convincing 10-0 sweep over the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. The Marauders closed out pool play just hours later against the defending silver medalist York Lions. The Lions had won all three pool play games heading into the match-up with McMaster and maintained their undefeated record with a 9-1 win over the Marauders.
With a 2-2 pool play record, the maroon and grey finished in third spot in Pool B to earn a berth to the OUA quarterfinal against the Toronto Varsity Blues, the defending champions, who sported a 2-1 record. In what was a tight contest from the opening serve, the Varsity Blues earned a 6-4 decision over the Marauders to secure a spot in the semifinal. With the loss, McMaster was eliminated from medal contention but still had an opportunity to finish in the Top 5 on Sunday.
On the final day of competition, the Marauders faced the Ottawa Gee-Gees in a battle for fifth place. After two days of coming out on the wrong end of 6-4 finals, McMaster flipped the script, winning six ties to secure a Top 5 finish and close out the 2023 OUA Championship. The York Lions secured their first OUA title and banner since 1999 after a decisive 6-0 sweep of the Waterloo Warriors. The Toronto Varsity Blues picked up the bronze.
Two Marauders were recognized as OUA standouts. A second-year kinesiology student in her first year of eligibility,
Natalie Yee was named a co-winner of the Women's Rookie of the Year award along with a competitor from the York Lions while
Jeslyn Chow, a second-year life sciences student was named an All-Star.
Getting back into the Top 5 after finishing just outside in sixth last season, the Marauders' will look to maintain their standing in 2024.
