Warriors dropped by McMaster in OUA semi's, will battle Queen's for spot at Nationals

Box Score

The Warriors gave a valiant effort against the No. 2 McMaster Marauders but came up short in straight sets (22, 21, 24) on Thursday night in Hamilton. The contest could have gone either way with the Warriors holding significant leads in both the second and third sets but the Marauders showed why they are one of the top teams in the country with their ability to close them out.

OUA First Team All-Star Braden Cok (Waterloo) led his Waterloo team in a losing effort, with 12 points on 12-20 hitting versus four errors (40 per cent).

Cok and the Warriors will have a second opportunity to qualify for the CIS Championship, as with McMaster's advance to the Friday final, the OUA bronze medal will carry with it a trip to the national tournament. Waterloo will have to navigate their way past the Queen's Gaels, who fell to Ryerson in the night's first semifinal match.

For McMaster, meanwhile, Friday marks the opportunity to win a fourth consecutive conference championship on home court. Standing in their way are the Rams, who advanced to the gold medal game after years of near misses in the OUA playoffs.

With the Burridge Gym filling rapidly around them, the Marauders got off to a quick start with the help of a run of steady service from Peter Khodkevych, which spotted Mac a 7-4 lead in the opening set. Waterloo kept in touch, but trailed by four points at the technical timeout, after a service error from Greg Simone (London). Seeming well on the way to wrapping up the first as they led 21-15, Mac saw their visitors embark on a 5-1 run to close the gap to just two following a missed shot from Elliott for 22-20.

That was as close as the Warriors would come, however, as Mac regrouped to play side-out volleyball the rest of the way, taking the opening set on a service error from Waterloo's Jordan McConkey (Stratford).

While the Warriors began brightly in the second set, the Marauders slowly whittled away at their early lead, and drew level at 10-all after an Elliott kill. Neither team seemed able to pull away in the tightly-contested set, and after Waterloo led by two at the technical timeout, Mac eventually claimed the set in the late stages, winning five of six points from 20-all and sealing it with a Demyanenko block on Aidan Simone (London).

There was nothing to choose between the two sides once again in the third set, although the Warriors took a 16-13 lead into the technical after a rare miss in the pipe from Maar. Waterloo doggedly clung to their lead as the set moved to its conclusion, and seemed well poised to force extra volleyball at 22-19, after a kill from Jordan McConkey (Stratford). Wasting two set points from 24-22, the Warriors saw their hopes of extending the night dashed when McCarthy fired down an ace to take the set 26-24 and match 3-0.

Waterloo's bronze medal match goes tonight at 5:30pm vs Queen's with the winner going on to the CIS Championship next weekend hosted by McMaster as well.

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Players Mentioned

#2 Braden Cok: 6' 5"; Third Year; 3

#15 Jordan McConkey: 6' 7"; Third Year; 3

#8 Aidan Simone: 6' 4"; Third Year; 3

#17 Greg Simone: 6' 1"; Fifth Year; 5

Players Mentioned

#2 Braden Cok
: 6' 5"; Third Year; 3

#15 Jordan McConkey
: 6' 7"; Third Year; 3

#8 Aidan Simone
: 6' 4"; Third Year; 3

#17 Greg Simone
: 6' 1"; Fifth Year; 5

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned