No. 10 Rams sweep defending champion Marauders

TORONTO – The No. 10 nationally ranked Ryerson Rams women's volleyball team persevered through a tough match with the defending OUA champion, knocking off the McMaster Marauders in straight sets (25-19, 27-25, 25-23) on Wednesday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Veronica Livingston (Kelowna, B.C.) had a game-high 13 kills to lead the Rams while also adding two blocks and a service ace for 16 points.

The home side controlled the first set in large part due to an 8-1 run that turned an 8-8 tie into a 16-9 lead at the technical timeout. The Marauders began to mount a comeback and got back to within three points at 21-18 which forced a Rams timeout. Ryerson responded out of the break, taking four of the next five points to close the set at 25-19 and take a 1-0 match lead.

McMaster opened the second set with two kills from Joanna Jedrzejewska and two service aces from Lauren Mastroluisi to spur an early 6-1 lead. Ryerson was able to respond and tie the match at 7-7 before another McMaster run opened the lead back to four at 16-12 at the technical timeout.

Once again the Rams were able to erase the deficit and tied the set at 20-20 and finally took their first lead after forcing extra points at 26-25. A block from Theanna Vernon (Scarborough, Ont.) sealed the set for the Rams, giving them a 27-25 come from behind victory to take a 2-0 lead.

Despite giving up the late lead and falling behind two sets to none, McMaster stormed out of the set break and took a quick 7-0 lead in the third. The Marauders held onto the seven point spread until the Rams went on a run while trailing 13-6. A 6-0 run by the Rams on points from four different players made it a one point game at 13-12, but McMaster led 16-13 at the technical timeout.

The Marauders looked stronger out of the timeout, regaining a five point edge but the Rams were able to find another response, tying the game back up at 19-19. Ryerson finally took their first lead of the set at game point and an Emily Nicholishen (Whitby, Ont.) kill completed the come back, giving Ryerson the 25-23 win to complete the sweep.

"It's a great win for us; I'm not sure it was our best performance but I'm proud of the way we handled the tough moments and we found a way to stick together and win each set," said head coach Dustin Reid following the game.

"Given that McMaster is a great team and defending OUA champions, they had the weekend off and we were working hard all weekend, I'm really happy with what happened out there."

Emily Betteridge (Whitby, Ont.) had a strong game for the Rams, assisting on 33 of the Rams' 38 kills on the night while adding 12 digs, three service aces and two kills.

McMaster's Maicee Sorensen had a team-high 12 kills in the loss while Jedrzejewska added ten kills for the Marauders.

Ryerson (7-1) returns to the court on Sunday, November 23 when the Rams take on the Waterloo Warriors beginning at 2:00 p.m.