Dissanayake and Gratton named McMaster Athletes of the Week

By: Maggie Veitch, McMaster Sports Information

HAMILTON – Clara Dissanayake of the Marauders women’s curling team and Maxime Gratton of the McMaster men’s volleyball team take home this week’s Athlete of the Week honours.
 
Women’s Curling – Clara Dissanayake
A second year Kinesiology student, Clara Dissanayake impressed at her second OUA Championship. The Sudbury local was a key part of the Marauders’ silver medal run at the 2024 OUA Women’s Curling Championship in Guelph. The team faced four competitors – the Toronto Varsity Blues, York Lions, Trent Excalibur and Queen’s Gaels – in group play en route to a 3-1 record. From there, McMaster earned 5-3 quarterfinal victory over the Trent Excalibur to find themselves in a semi-final rematch with the Queen’s Gaels. The Marauders came out on top, moving onto the gold medal game where they faced the Laurentian Voyageurs, for the second straight year. Down 6-0 after the opening three ends, the maroon and grey battled back, putting up six straight points, but came up just short. The Marauders returned home with the silver medal and will head to Fredericton in March for the 2024 U SPORTS Curling Championships. Dissanayake was key to the Marauders’ success and was honoured as an OUA Second Team All-Star for her consistent play over the three days – her first OUA nod of her varsity career.

Men’s Volleyball – Maxime Gratton
Maxime Gratton, a third-year Social Psychology student, had a dominant weekend in two Top 10 battles with the Brock Badgers. On Friday night, the Ottawa local recorded 13 kills for a .387 kill percentage while also recording eight digs. Gratton has been a constant threat from the service line and made no exception in the first match of the weekend. He  had three service aces in just three sets played as the Marauders picked up a 3-0 sweep of the Badgers. The following night was much of the same as the veteran outside hitter had 12 kills for a .476 percentage while also tallying two service aces, three digs and three solo blocks en route to a second straight 3-0 victory over the No. 10 nationally-ranked Badgers. Gratton ranks in the Top 5 in the OUA in five statistical categories – total service aces (2nd – 37), points (2nd – 274), hitting percentage (3rd – .374), service aces per set (3rd – 0.57) and total kills (5th – 218).