No. 3 Marauders roar into fifth consecutive OUA final with sweep of Rams

HAMILTON, Ont. - Their hitters feasted for three sets, and at their conclusion, the Marauders had convincingly roared back into the OUA final for a fifth consecutive season.
 
The U SPORTS no. 3-ranked McMaster swept the Ryerson Rams 25-17, 28-26, 25-19 in front of a raucous home crowd at the Burridge Gym to advance to Saturday's OUA gold medal match and book a return to the national championship tournament for a fifth straight year.
 
Enduring a spirited battle from the OUA East's second-seeded Rams, particularly in a see-saw second set that entered bonus points, the Marauders will now meet the Waterloo Warriors in Saturday's final.
 
The Warriors booked their place in the gold medal match by navigating three razor-close sets against the Guelph Gryphons to gain the sweep.
 
McMaster hit a remarkable 43 per cent as a team, with setter Andrew Kocur hitting his creative stride early and often en route to 40 assists in just three sets of work.
 
Spearheading Mac's balanced offence on the night, outside Brandon Koppers had one of the most efficient nights of his season, hitting 44 per cent while killing 15 of 25 attempts versus four errors and adding a block assist for 15.5 points.
 
Fresh from his coronation as the OUA West's Player of the Year, middle Danny Demyanenko set the standard for efficiency, making good on 11 of 14 of his attempts without an error (78.6 per cent) while adding a block and a half for 12.5 points.
 
Unsurprisingly, Ryerson's peak offensive performance came courtesy of opposite Lucas Coleman, who had a match high of 17 points, all of which were kills. He converted on 22 per cent of his 36 hitting attempts.
 
A confident start had Mac doubling up Ryerson after 18 points, as a combo block from Jayson McCarthy and Demyanenko gave the hosts a 12-6 lead.
 
Ryerson managed to swing the opening set toward side-out volleyball after the technical timeout, but the hole they dug for themselves early proved too much to escape from. A four-point run from the Marauders brought the set to a close, and Koppers sealed it with a kill despite Mac scrambling out of system.
 
Early returns in the second set made it seem as if it was headed into much the same territory, as the hosts led 7-2 out of the gate. But the Rams regrouped quickly and stayed in striking distance, trailing by just three points at the technical timeout.
 
Winning four of five points out of the technical, Mac once again seemed ascendant as a Kocur ace moved them ahead 20-14. But, as they had earlier in the set, the Rams embarked on a run to close the gap, and tied the set at 23 after a kill from Coleman.
 
From there, the teams traded body blows, and Ryerson enjoyed a set point at 26-25, before the Marauders cruelly ran off three consecutive points to snatch the set, claiming it when a Coleman attempt sailed wide.
 
A five-point run midway through the third set gave McMaster a crucial measure of separation at 12-7, before Ryerson again swung momentum to tie the set at 17.
 
The hosts had no interest in a fourth set, however, and reeled off six consecutive points to bring themselves within two of the finish line, with the help of the newly-injected second-year opposite Matt Passalent.
 
Four points later, it was all over, as a Brendan Kewin service error sunk the Rams.
 
Saturday's bronze and gold medal matches get underway at 5:30 and 8:00 p.m. in the Burridge Gym, and will both be streaming live and on demand on OUA.tv.