The Waterloo men's volleyball team opened up their season with a straight set loss to the very competitive McMaster Marauders on Friday night at the PAC gym in Waterloo.  McMaster got off to a slow start but after finding their stride in the middle of the first set, they did not look back winning 3-0 with set scores of 25-23, 25-20, 25-22.

With the win McMaster improved to 2-1 on the season while Waterloo sits at 0-1.

The Warriors came out swinging in the early going fueled by the good crowd on hand as they took a 9-4 lead early in the first set.  McMaster would weather the early storm as outside hitter Jeremy Groenveld (Welland, Ont.) would go on the attack time and time again leading his squad to a tight 25-23 first set win.

McMaster continued their strong play into the second taking a quick 8-2 lead.  McMaster held the lead the entire set en route to a 25-20 second set win.  Groeveld was once again a force with outside hits while Waterloo was led with some strong attack by second year outside hitter Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo/) (Waterloo, Ont.) but could not mount a comeback to even the sets.
With McMaster in control they would once again take an early lead in the third set and would not look back taking the final set by a score of 25-22.  Leading the way for the Marauers was Groenveld who had a staggering 19 hits and a kill percentage of 55.2%.  Defensively he added 10 digs in the win.  Third year outside hitter Kevin Stevens (Winnipeg, Man.) also added to McMaster's offense with 10 kills on the night.  First year setter TJ Sanders (London, Ont.) was strong on the set up with 37 assists.

On Waterloo's side of the net fifth year outside Camera Wheelan led the black and gold with 12 kills, two service aces and four digs.  Kazhamiaka was second in kills with 11 and a kill percentage of 55.6%.  Setter Scott Thomson (St. Marys/) had 30 assists on the night in a losing effort.

Waterloo will look to reverse their fortune this evening as they face the Ryerson Rams at 6pm in the PAC gym.