The McMaster Marauders women’s volleyball team swept their season series against the No. 7 nationally ranked Western Mustangs 3-1 (26-24, 25-14, 14-25, 26-24) on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
Making the return leg after upset the Mustangs at home on Thursday in sweeping fashion, the Marauders met some bumps in the way on Saturday afternoon. Both sides struggling to find rhythm with the Marauders average 0.999 and the Mustangs .121 on hitting percentage.
First-year outside hitter Sullie Sundara was the Marauders most efficient player on the offence, recording eight kills on 22 total attacks for nine points. Not to be outdone herself, fellow first-year Emma McKinnon continued her fine first-year form with a team-high nine kills.
The first-year class continued to shine bright, as Chayse Victoria rose to the occasion as setter, dishing out 17 assists and supporting on two blocks in four sets of action.
Clinical on the service ace, Ellie Hatashita kept the Mustangs defence on their toes, with a game-high three service aces.
Both sides went neck-and-neck in the first set with the largest point differential coming at 9-12 for the Mustangs, but the Marauders turned things around with pair of kills from Sullie Sundara and Hayley Brookes to head into the technical timeout 16-15. But the story line continued, with the separation coming from Mustang errors to give the Maroon the first set 26-24.
In the second, the Marauders exploded to a 16-10 lead comfortable behind a service ace from Jessie Nairn – more errors continued to plague the Mustangs with a service error, and pair of attack errors to close out the set, 25-14.
The purple and white flipped the script in the third set behind a surge from Janelle Albert – she recorded a game high 24 kills giving her side the convincing 25-14 third set win.
Heading to the fourth set, the action looked much like the first with very little separating the two sides, with the difference coming in numerous Western errors. A series of five straight attack errors would lead the Marauders into a 16-14 lead at the technical timeout, capped by a kill from Victoria, sealing the game.
In total, the Mustangs recorded 33 errors compared to the Marauders 21.
With the win, the Marauders now tie the Mustangs on record 5-2 for second in the OUA West Division. They’ll now look ahead to Thursday as they hit the road against the Windsor Lancers. Game time is scheduled for 2pm.
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