M-VOLLEYBALL FINAL FOUR ROUNDUP: Warriors and Marauders to play for gold Saturday
Friday, February 20
York 1 @ Waterloo 3 (26-28, 25-22, 25-21, 25-21)
The Waterloo men's volleyball team got exactly the performance they were looking for from a pair of veterans in their 3-1 (26-28, 25-22, 25-21, 25-21) OUA semifinal victory over the York Lions on Friday night in Hamilton.
Fourth year outside hitter Zachary Doherty (Goderich) and fifth year middle Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines) brought their A games to the Burridge Gym as Waterloo erased the memory of three straight losses in OUA semifinal matches to advance to the OUA gold medal game and CIS Championship next week in Saskatoon.
Doherty was simply unstoppable with 18 points in the contest which included 16 kills and two blocks. He also tossed in a service ace and played tremendous defence with 14 digs. Dyck was as impressive in the middle with eight kills but more importantly stepped up his net presence with a game high five blocks.
After dropping the opening set, Waterloo shifted their focus to the middle attack and it seemed to catch the Lions off-guard, working time and time again. Adding to Dyck's middle attack was another Jordan, Jordan McConkey (Stratford) who also put away eight kills. McConkey also provided several key blocks at critical points in the game.
Waterloo took the second set 25-22 and the match look to be heading towards 5-sets. The Doherty attack and middle efficiency however gave Waterloo the momentum in the final two sets and they would claim both by the identical scores of 25-21.
Also playing a key part in Waterloo's offence was Aidan Simone (London) who put away eight kills in the win while Gibson Graham (Markham) was a solid setup man with 37 assists.
Defensively, Erich Woolley (New Dundee) was showing the OUA who the top libero is with his game high 17 digs, frustrating the Lions attack on several occasions.
York's offence was provided mostly by Marko Dakic and Josh Henderson who put away 16 kills each. Veteran outside hitter Ray Szeto chipped in with 12 in the loss.
The Warriors will now face McMaster for the OUA championship title tomorrow at 8pm in Hamilton. Both teams have already advanced to nationals next week in Saskatoon (Feb. 26-29) but OUA gold will be the goal tomorrow.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
Windsor 1 @ McMaster 3 (25-22, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20)
They were far from their best on Friday, but the McMaster Marauders clawed out a semifinal victory over the Windsor Lancers in four sets to earn a spot in the OUA final and a berth in the CIS Championship.
McMaster dropped just their sixth set all season in the 25-22, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20 win, but regained their form in the fourth set to see out the stiff challenge from Windsor on the night. With the result, the Marauders will meet the Waterloo Warriors in Saturday's final at the Burridge Gym, after Waterloo dispatched York in an absorbing four-setter to open Final Four weekend.
Fresh from being named as the OUA's Most Valuable Player a week ago, Marauder middle Danny Demyanenko led his team with 14.5 points on 11-21 hitting with just a single error (.476) while adding three and a half blocks. OUA Second Team All-Star Brandon Koppers followed with 13 points, and was McMaster's most efficient outside hitter as the Marauders struggled to find consistency on the wings.
Meanwhile, outside Greg Simone was an offensive spark plug for the Lancers, converting 10-25 attempts versus four errors (.240) and adding four aces and a block for a game high of 15 points.
Windsor endured an atrocious start to Friday's match, falling behind 9-4 in the opening set while struggling to find any rhythm offensively. While the Lancers slowly worked their way into the set, and outplayed the Marauders at several points, the deficit proved to be too much to overcome, and McMaster outlasted Windsor to take the first 25-22.
Defensively shutting down the Lancers for large stretches of the second, the Marauders built a healthy lead even while their own offence had yet to hit top gear. That trend continued as McMaster took the second by a seven point margin.
With their backs against the wall, the Lancers enjoyed their best offensive set of the match in the third, with 12 kills versus just five errors on 22 attempts as a team (.318). Their attacking success — with Simone providing a stable option on the outside — helped the Lancers stay in touch, and when McMaster turned to their bench, Windsor snatched the set out from under them.
However, the Marauders responded quickly in the fourth set to establish a lead which they would not relinquish, finally reaching the sort of efficiency on the offensive side that fans have come to expect. Hitting .379 as a team over the course of the set, McMaster stayed comfortably in front until the combination of a Danny Demyanenko kill and a Jori Mantha service ace brought the match to a close.
Source: McMaster Marauders
