Marauder moments created on the road

After a long match and victory against a tough opponent in the York Lions, the Marauders had little time to recover from that match and prepare for their next one.

The team had to travel four and a half hours to North Bay, Ont., arriving at around one in the morning.

“We left right after the game. We dealt with it about as well as we could,” said head coach Dave Preston.

The team had a catered meal waiting for them after the game against York, so that they did not have to stop on the road for food in the middle of a snowstorm.

This was beneficial for the team and their nutrition. Instead of stopping at a McDonald’s at a pit stop on the way to North Bay, the staff chose a healthier route.

“Little details like that paid off for us this weekend,” said Preston.

The team managed to win both matches on the weekend – taking the York match in four sets, and taking the Nipissing match in three. This was a feat that Preston felt the team handled exceptionally well.

“It was a tough trip, so to handle it with only losing one set, and getting in and out of there was pretty good for us,” said Preston.

The way that the team handled the short rest period and long travel time was not the only impressive thing the Marauders will be taking away from the weekend.

Dany Demyanenko and Brandon Koppers had strong weekends, contributing to both games. Demyanenko scored 22.5 points against York and Koppers scored 16 against the Lakers.

Preston credited their success to their ability to stay consistent in both practices and matches.

“They’re just really, really solid, which is exactly what we need, because we’ve got some moving pieces in our line up with Jayson McCarthy and Jori Mantha and our setters,” said Preston.

“They’re providing some really good stability for us, and really good demeanor for other guys to follow.”

Another impressive thing that Preston took from the weekend was the Marauders’ dedication to not just their team but to other Maroon and Grey teams as well.

On Sunday, the majority of the team travelled to Guelph to watch the women compete in the CIS Championships.

“They manned up and they found their way there, and they were in the stands cheering on the team. They just came off a two-match weekend, and they were there in full force,” said Preston.

Another great moment for the team was on the way back home from Nipissing, they huddled around a laptop to watch the Marauders men’s soccer team beat the Ryerson Rams in penalty kicks in the OUA semi-finals.

“When we won in penalty kicks, there were guys running up and down the aisle on the bus, high fiving each other,” said Preston.

The team also made their way to the OUA soccer final on Nov. 2 to cheer on the team.

“They understand that there is a greater good. Some of those things that people don’t see between the whistles, its pretty special,” said Preston.

While the Marauders are managing to have fun cheering their fellow Marauders on in their pivotal points of the season, they still have serious business to attend to.

The Waterloo Warriors will be in the Burridge Gym on Nov. 8, which will be a critical match and opponent for McMaster, as the Warriors beat them in regular season competition last year.

“We are fully aware of what the Warriors are capable of. They handed it to us twice last year so we know we’ve got a formidable opponent,” said Preston.

One of the major things that the Marauders will be working on before hosting the Warriors is defence.

“According to CIS statistics, we are the worst defensive team in the country. We average less than seven digs a set. There are teams out there that are getting 12 and 13 digs a set,” said Preston.

“So it’s something that we’ve been heightening our awareness to. We did it all week last week, we’re doing it all this week again.”

The Marauders still have a lot of work to do when it comes to the remainder of their season.

But there has been an incredible amount of improvements made in the last four weeks, and for Preston, the season is still young.

“We’re not as good as we want to be yet, and the best part of that is, we’re still working on it. It’s only November.”