Marauders come away with a sweep in first meeting against TMU

TORONTO Ont. — On Friday, the McMaster Marauders (5-7) travelled across the QEW to face the TMU Bold (5-5). 

McMaster swept TMU in the first game and then fell just short in the second game. 

Set one started well for the Marauders with Jason Heidbuurt (Hamilton, Ont.) setting up multiple strong kills by Jared Kuiken (London, Ont.), Seth O’Brien (Kingston, Ont.) and Kaden Zunti (Burlington, Ont.). After a five point run by TMU, McMaster would tie the game up at nine. Both Maxime Gratton (Ottawa, Ont.) and Robbie Fujisawa (North York, Ont.) recorded service aces in set one and O’Brien would finish the set off with back to back kills to lead the Marauders to a 25-22 win. 

The score throughout set two stayed close. Near the end of the set, a kill from O’Brien would put the Marauders up by one and force a TMU timeout. Coming out of the time out Gratton added a service ace to halt the TMU offense. Both teams battled but it was the Marauders who came out on top, with Ashton Fox-Kristensen (Elora, Ont.) sealing set two with a service ace to win it 27-25.

McMaster took an early lead in set three but TMU fought back. McMaster’s offense continued to produce strong hits, pairing it with some key blocks from Fox-Kristensen to challenge the TMU offense. Gratton finished off set three with a service ace to pull the Marauders past the Bold 29-27, and complete the sweep in the first meeting. 

On Saturday, the Marauders faced TMU again. McMaster came out swinging in set one and glided to a 25-19 win.

TMU battled back in set two, but the Marauder offense held strong. Despite more offensive pressure from the Marauders along with a service ace from Heidbuurt, McMaster would lose set two 25-19.

Fox-Kristensen got McMaster rolling with an early service ace and later Gratton put together a few kills to pull McMaster within one midway through. Later on, a block from O’Brien would tie it at 18. Despite the Marauder defense stepping up, McMaster would fall in set three, 25-23.

McMaster would hold on to take set four 25-22 thanks to more strong offense with both Kuiken and Fox-Kristensen recording service aces.

The second meeting between the Marauders and Bold would need a tie breaker. Early in the final set Gratton made some statement kills, but TMU would string together a few offensive runs to take the final set 15-12.

Up Next: Catch the Marauders at home against the York Lions on January 24th and 25th.