The men’s volleyball team got into action on Friday, Jan. 14 for the third time this new year.
Winless through their first two games in January, the Badgers had a tall order to fill.
Fourth-last in the OUA, the Badgers would need a miracle to unseat the undefeated, second-nationally-ranked McMaster Marauders. Going into Friday, the Marauders had only dropped six sets all season.
The disparity in strength was evident early in the match.
In the first set, the Badgers struggled mightily at the net, putting up an eye-popping -0.125 hit percentage and only scraping out four kills.
The score, however, was not as lopsided as it could have been, with McMaster winning by a comfortable 25-15 margin.
In the second set, the Badgers showed some signs of life. Brock went up 4-0 off the hop on two kills and two attack errors.
Errors would be the story of the set for McMaster, who conceded six of them while only adding eight kills. While the Marauders would fight with them down the stretch, the Badgers maintained their early spread, stealing the set 25-18.
This made the Badgers only the fifth team this season to take a set off McMaster University.
Though the set was a nice moral victory, when it came to an actual victory, that would be as far as the Badgers would get.
The Marauders looked much more themselves in the third set. Starting the set with a 10-3 eruption, McMaster completely cleaned up their act. Only allowing the Badgers to score consecutively twice, McMaster cruised to a 25-12 victory while committing zero attack errors. Clearly, whatever the coach had said at the break woke the Marauders up from their undisciplined second set performance.
McMaster’s course stayed true throughout the game’s final set. They scored in bunches and prevented Brock from doing anything similar, again winning comfortably 25-15.
Kylar Kode was a force for the Badgers, leading both teams with 14 kills, in addition to two blocks and five digs.
Nolan Shapcott also had an excellent performance, leading the team with 23 assists and the game with 10 digs.
The win moves McMaster to an 11-0 record, while shifting the Badgers to 2-9. The loss also extends a five-game losing streak for the Badgers.
The Badgers are next in action in London, facing off against Western University on Jan. 20 and 21. For their full schedule and results, visit gobadgers.ca.