Maar returns to lead McMaster back to OUA Final

Leading McMaster's top players back into the lineup on Thursday, Stephen Maar demonstrated why he was named as the OUA's Most Valuable Player two days earlier. Mac's fourth-year star led his team and the match with 17.5 points, including 15 kills, as the Marauders swept the Waterloo Warriors in three tight sets (25-22, 25-21, 26-24) to advance to the OUA title game on home court for the fourth-consecutive year.

Maar became the third consecutive Marauder to receive the OUA's top honour on Tuesday, and returned to the McMaster lineup alongside fellow starters Alex Elliott, Danny Demyanenko, Andrew Richards and Brandon Koppers. He finished the night with 15 kills on 25 attempts versus just two errors (52 per cent), while adding an ace and a block and a half. In the wake of McMaster's win, Maar gave much of the credit for his success to his setter Andrew Kocur.

"Andrew and I have had a really good connection all year," said Maar. "I know what he's thinking and when he's putting those balls in the air I know that I can trust my training and put them down."

OUA First Team All-Star Braden Cok led his Waterloo team in a losing effort, with 12 points on 12-20 hitting versus four errors (40 per cent).

Cok and the Warriors will have a second opportunity to qualify for the CIS Championship, as with McMaster's advance to the Friday final, the OUA bronze medal will carry with it a trip to the national tournament. Waterloo will have to navigate their way past the Queen's Gaels, who fell to Ryerson in the night's first semifinal match.

For McMaster, meanwhile, Friday marks the opportunity to win a fourth consecutive conference championship on home court. Standing in their way are the Rams, who advanced to the gold medal game after years of near misses in the OUA playoffs.

With the Burridge Gym filling rapidly around them, the Marauders got off to a quick start with the help of a run of steady service from Peter Khodkevych, which spotted Mac a 7-4 lead in the opening set. Waterloo kept in touch, but trailed by four points at the technical timeout, after a service error from Greg Simone. Seeming well on the way to wrapping up the first as they led 21-15, Mac saw their visitors embark on a 5-1 run to close the gap to just two following a missed shot from Elliott for 22-20.

That was as close as the Warriors would come, however, as Mac regrouped to play side-out volleyball the rest of the way, taking the opening set on a service error from Waterloo's Jordan McConkey.

While the Warriors began brightly in the second set, the Marauders slowly whittled away at their early lead, and drew level at 10-all after an Elliott kill. Neither team seemed able to pull away in the tightly-contested set, and after Waterloo led by two at the technical timeout, Mac eventually claimed the set in the late stages, winning five of six points from 20-all and sealing it with a Demyanenko block on Aidan Simone.

There was nothing to choose between the two sides once again in the third set, although the Warriors took a 16-13 lead into the technical after a rare miss in the pipe from Maar. Waterloo doggedly clung to their lead as the set moved to its conclusion, and seemed well poised to force extra volleyball at 22-19, after a kill from Jordan McConkey. Wasting two set points from 24-22, the Warriors saw their hopes of extending the night dashed when McCarthy fired down an ace for 26-24.