Box Score The miracle just didn't have one more match left in it for the Waterloo Warriors men's volleyball team.

It had one more hot start, as an early 15-10 Waterloo advantage momentarily shook the favoured McMaster Marauders. And it had one last gasp of air, when the Warriors strung together a modest lead at the start of the third set, down 0-2 in the match. But in the end, the miracle run of five straight wins just didn't have another shocking victory left in it.

The undefeated Marauders proved to be too much for the Warriors, as McMaster won their fifth straight OUA championship with a straight sets victory (25-22, 25-11, 25-21) over Waterloo on Saturday night in Hamilton.

Despite the loss, the Warriors came away with a silver medal, and a silver lining: their Cinderella run to a runner-up finish in the OUA means that Waterloo qualifies for next weekend's USports National Championship tournament in Edmonton.

Their bid to qualify as OUA champions didn't go to plan, though, as the Marauders (17-0 regular season, 3-0 playoffs) marched to a title without dropping a single set in the postseason. OUA player of the year Danny Demyanenko led McMaster with 10.5 points, while Andrew Richards and Brendan Koppers each had 9.5 points with 8 and 7 kills, respectively. The Marauders also asserted their dominance in the service game, as they piled up 11 aces to Waterloo's three.

For Waterloo (9-8 regular season, 2-1 playoffs), their most potent weapons were taken out of the match by a staunch McMaster defense. Braden Cok (Waterloo) led the team with 7 kills, while Jordan McConkey (Stratford) was stymied with only 3 kills.

The match got off on the right foot for the visitors, as Waterloo silenced the partisan crowd with an 8-4 start en route to a 16-12 lead entering the technical timeout. But the Marauders exited the break with three straight points to narrow the gap, eventually knotting things at 18-18. The clubs traded two points apiece before McMaster rattled off five of the final six points to claim the first set.

Perhaps the Warriors were deflated by the prospects of surrendering a first-set lead, or perhaps the four-time defending champions smelled blood. But whatever the case, the start of the second set was all McMaster. The Marauders got four straight aces from Jayson McCarthy to open the set, while Waterloo had problems finding the court at all from the service line. The Marauders opened up a 15-6 advantage in the second set, and they answered Waterloo's pushback by winning 10 of 11 points to climb within one set of the title.

The pesky Warriors didn't go away all season, though – even when they were supposed to – so the Marauders couldn't have been surprised to see Waterloo jump out to a 11-8 lead in the third set. But McMaster relied on their championship experience to calmly reign the Warriors back in and surge ahead, winning seven of eight points to claim a 15-12 advantage. McMaster didn't look back, and a Peter Khodkevych block on match point sent the Marauders bench spilling on to the floor to celebrate the OUA title.

For the Warriors, they won't have time to reflect on their run to an OUA silver medal, or to dwell on their defeat in the championship final – they will now head to Edmonton for the national championship tournament.

And perhaps, they'll pack a new miracle for the long trip west.