First-year McMaster Marauder Brendan Mills registered 14 kills on 22 attempts to help advance the Marauders to the consolation final on day two of the 2022 U SPORTS Men’s Volleyball Championship at the Investors Group Athletic Centre, while the loss marks the end of the season for Queen’s.
It took some time for the Marauders to get into the swing of things, recording seven errors compared to the Gaels four in the first set of action. The Gaels stood tall defensively with five total team blocks, meanwhile for the Maroon, Navreet Suhan was perfect on the offence connecting on all three attempts that came his way, recording three kills.
But it was Player of the Game, Brendan Mills, that injected the most pace entering the game off the bench in the fourth set. The first-year put away seven kills in the second set alone, on an impressive .556 hitting percentage, while second-year Sam Cooper added in five of his 16 kills in the set. As a team, the Marauders stunned the Gaels recording four blocks in the set, in due part to Suhan who turned one attack away solo, and assisted on two blocks.
It was much of the same in the final two sets, with the Marauders increasingly performing more efficiently with only three errors in the third set, and four in the fourth set. First-year setter, Robbie Fujisawa stuffed the stat sheet, dishing out 51 assists, and supporting defensively with nine digs and assisting on five blocks.
McMaster, the 2022 OUA champions, recorded a .299 hitting percentage while Queen’s posted a percentage of .212.
The victory sends the Marauders to the consolation final on Sunday March 27th at 11 a.m. CT where they will face either the host Manitoba Bisons or provincial rival from the University of Toronto, the Varsity Blues. The loss brings the Gaels’ national championship journey to an end and will see them finish either in seventh or eighth place.
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McMaster Marauders: Brendan Mills Queen’s Gaels: Erik Siksna
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