HAMILTON, Ont. — The McMaster Marauders (6-4) were back in Burridge gym this Friday, to take on the Windsor Lancers (8-3).

The Marauders took the first of the two games 3-0. 

In the first set, McMaster got off to a fast 4-0 start with the first two serves being aces by Olivia Julien (Toronto, Ont.) Later, Maddy Lutes (Barrie, Ont.) took a note from Julien and made back to back service aces as well. Windsor then called an early timeout with the added Marauder offensive pressure. This tactic would fail to slow the rolling offense though, as coming out of the timeout, Lutes would hit a service ace to add to the lead. Hayley Brookes (Burlington, Ont.) would subs in for the Marauders and wasted no time adding to the Marauder lead with an ace. Brookes followed up with some strong defensive digs to help McMaster take set one 25-17.

Windsor came out strong in set two but the Marauders maintained pressure with an early kill by Emma McKinnon (Milton, Ont.) to tie it at six. Abby Delamere (Toronto, Ont.) added to the offensive pressure with a block to tie the score at 10 and then would follow up with a service ace. After a McMaster timeout, Angelika Vidmar (Etobicoke, Ont.) got the Marauder offense rolling again with a kill and followed up with a service ace. Vidmar would ultimately seal the set for the Marauders with a huge block to win set two 25-21. 

McMaster got right to work again in set three, starting with a 5-0 run thanks in part to a few service aces from Julien. McKinnon made a statement mid way through with back to back kills. Later in the set, Vidmar would hit a service ace to advance the Marauder lead. A floating tip from Julien would seal it for McMaster, winning the final set 25-17.

On Saturday, the Marauders grabbed another win against the Lancers, finishing the day with a score of 3-2. Windsor kept McMaster on their toes with back-and-forth action throughout the entire game. 

The first set was consistently close in score between the Marauders and the Lancers, until Julien made three consecutive kills, pulling the team ahead 7-6. McMaster pulled ahead further with two service aces in a row from Delamere and would eventually take the set 25-21.

Set two started with the Marauders leading due to an impressive block made by Chayse Victoria (Oakville Ont.). The score remained close when Lutes helped her team out with a powerful kill, making the score 4-6. Ava Connelly (Ancaster, Ont.) also got into the action hitting the Lancers with a service ace. Later in the set, the aces would come in abundance with Victoria, Lutes, Julien and McKinnon also making services aces to help the Marauder with the set 25-21. 

The Lancers kept the score close in the third set, and despite some impressive kills made by the Marauders, the Lancers were able to run away with the set to win 25-10.

In the next set, the Marauders took the lead and did what they could to hold off the Lancers. Again, the score remained back-and-forth with a one to two point difference every few serves. However, the Lancers took victory once again, with a score of 25-21.

In the fifth and final set the Marauders took the lead early once again due to a kill by Julien. Victoria stepped up with a block pulling the team ahead 13-9. The game finished off with an attack error made by the Lancers, giving McMaster the 15-10 win and ending the weekend with a pair of wins.

Up Next: McMaster will be in Toronto next Friday and Saturday to take on TMU.