Marauders show spirit in thriller

Fraser Caldwell

Sports Editor

It was a nippy night in Kingston, but Dan Groenveld mounted the steps of the charter bus without footwear.

He was sporting more icepacks than items of clothing, but the young hitter seemed as if he couldn’t possibly care less. Close behind, Dave Preston was singing, with a look of calm content spread over his features.

All was right in the world of the Maroon and Grey.

That’s because the Marauders had clinched the most dramatic of wins only minutes earlier, sealing an improbable comeback victory over the course of five sets against the Queen’s Gaels.

The Nov. 19 result brought with it two necessary points for a team looking to stay among the contenders in the OUA, and dealt a further blow to a Queen’s outfit that finds itself reeling at the midpoint of the season.

More importantly however, the emotional victory demonstrated a maturity and spirit on the part of the Marauders that will stand the squad in good stead for the future.

After losing the first two sets of the contest and enduring the jeers of the Kingston crowd, the Maroon and Grey mounted a stirring fight-back to clinch the next three frames and with them, the match.

One of the most instrumental contributors in the completion of McMaster’s thrilling five-set triumph, rookie middle hitter Alex Elliot explained the daunting nature of his first road game against the Marauders’ perennial nemesis.

“I personally felt a lot of nerves going into the game because it was the first really big road match that we’ve played,” said Elliot. “Queen’s and Western are the two rivals, the two powerhouses. Going into that match and having so many of their fans there too, it was pretty nerve-racking, but once the game starts you settle in, and it became a fun atmosphere to play in.”

Beginning the match in top-gear, McMaster was quickly pegged back by a resilient Queen’s defence, led by libero-turned-hitter Alex Oneid. Elliot outlined the frustration that comes with the inability to end points against a stingy opponent.

“They started playing some great defence,” said the middle of his most recent opponents. “They were digging out balls all over the place. It was really frustrating because they were being so scrappy. They would get down and put the ball over, and we would hammer it back down only to see it come back again.

“They were making some great plays.”

The hosts’ outstanding level of play brought two set victories with it, and had the Marauders facing the unenviable task of mounting a comeback in the hostile climes of the ARC. Despite their predicament, Elliot indicates that his squad did not lack for confidence as they faced the looming humiliation of a sweep.

“Guys were down a little bit,” conceded the first-year middle. “But mostly we knew that we just had to find our game. We knew that we came out strong and we knew that we could play with them. We were just waiting for something to spark us.

“Slowly we started to pick it up in the third.”

Even as their game climbed however, the Marauders were very nearly derailed in their comeback attempt, facing hefty deficits in the closing stages of both the third and fourth sets.

Elliot believes that his team’s improbable momentum swing to seal the fourth frame did permanent damage to the Gaels’ mentality.

“The comeback in the fourth was unbelievable,” the rookie middle exclaimed. “To climb back from 23-19 down is pretty much unheard of in men’s volleyball.

“I think they lost all of their momentum. We could see it on the video that their guys were starting to go at each other and getting angry at what they were doing. By coming back in the fourth I think we put them off their game, and it entirely threw them off in the fifth.”

It was during that deciding set that Elliot made his greatest impact on the match, providing the signature moment in a statement match.

With the Marauders leading 9-6, the Gaels looked to their star middle Michael Amoroso to turn the tide. The man known as ‘Amo’ to the competitors of the OUA had been enjoying a dominating day on court, but Elliot would put a violent end to Amoroso’s confident swagger on Nov. 19.

Queen’s attempted a fake to the outside before setting Amoroso in the middle, but Elliot remained unconvinced and emphatically blocked the Gaels’ star. It was an emotional point, and one that the Marauder believes did wonders for his own mentality.

“It really boosted my confidence there,” Elliot said of his pivotal block. “Because I had blocked Joren (Zeeman) heading into the timeout and when we huddled up we all thought that they were going to set Amo on the next point.

“So when I managed to go one-on-one, jump with him, and get the block, it was amazing.”

For the Marauders as a team, the fight-back in Kingston stands as a visceral reminder of the spirit needed to propel them past the best teams in the conference. Elliot knows full well that the Nov. 19 result was a landmark occasion for his squad.

“I thought it was a really big moment for the team and I think that [coach] Dave (Preston) thought it was really big too,” said the rookie middle of the victory. “Just to show that we had that fight in us. To show that no matter what the score is, we’re going to battle it out until the last point, until the ref says that we can’t play anymore.

“That’s the mentality that we took into those winning sets. We had no way of knowing that we would win. But we just wanted to play and win one point at a time, and that’s how we built the comeback.”

Elliot and his teammates will attempt to translate that lesson into further success as they look forward to their final match before the Christmas break.

The Marauders welcome the Toronto Varsity Blues to the Burridge Gym on Nov. 26 before the conference season adjourns for the holidays. Game time for the Saturday night contest is 7 p.m.