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After taking the first two games of the season in their only flight trip, the team has set themselves up for another successful year
On Nov. 5 McMaster’s women’s volleyball team played their first games of the season. After making the long trip out to Lakehead — the only trip they will make this season by way of flight — they completed a sweep, winning both games three to zero.
Although the Lakehead Thunderwolves were able to keep scores fairly competitive, the Marauders pulled away with a huge success to kick off their season.
One of the stars of the show for the Marauders was outside hitter Jessie Nairn, a skilled fifth-year student. Nairn, along with Emma McKinnon and Sullie Sundara led the pack on offense, with McKinnon taking 12 kills and Sundara and Nairn taking eight each.
Nairn would later speak to the importance of a strong start for the team following the completion of their successful series.
“I think it was a great start to the season . . . It’s the farthest trip of the year, so it was a big one to start with. It was a great start winning all six sets, going undefeated on the weekend. I think it’s a good start for a young team to get us going,” said Nairn.
Although Nairn felt good about her performance over the weekend, she felt like there was still more to desire. She explained how the team has great talent and significant potential and how there is a serious opportunity at hand for her squad to deal damage. The goals have been set sky high for the season and Nairn feels that they are within reach.
“I think that I can always play better, but thought it was a good start to the season for myself . . . We have a very strong team this year and we are going to make big things happen. Our goals are always going to be to win this league — win the OUA, get to nationals and do big things there as well. This year we really have a good chance to get there,” explained Nairn.
One of the challenges the Marauders must face each year is simply the difficulty of the division they were placed in. Along with the Lakehead Thunderwolves, they also face opponents such as the Brock Badgers, Waterloo Warriors, Windsor Lancers, Western Mustangs and Guelph Gryphons.
Nairn noted the difficulty of the division the Marauders find themselves in, but stressed that the team has what it takes to come out on top.
“The competition in this league is strong, especially in the OUA west. It’s getting stronger and stronger over the years, but I think we have a shot against every single team that we’re up against. We have incredible skill at every single position this year,” said Nairn.
It may be early, but currently standing first place in their division provides a strong sense of promise for the team as they continue with their season. As one of only four total teams (out of 14 total) who are currently undefeated, they have become one of the teams to beat.
The next matchup for the team comes against the Brock Badgers on Nov. 19 and Nov. 21, with the second game of the pair being the team homecoming. With a 73.7% winning percentage against the Badgers over the last decade, the Marauders should have a great opportunity to extend their streak.
Things have been going very well for the McMaster women’s basketball team and they have no plans to slow down. Currently in first place in the Ontario University Athletics West with a 12-2 record, and the worst arguably behind them, another trip to the University Sports national finals looks on the horizon. But this time, senior guard Hilary Hanaka and the Marauders aim to leave with a medal.
“Once you get that taste on court playing against the best teams in Canada, it only makes you hungrier for more,” said Hanaka. “You know that you're there and you can compete, but I think just being on that playing field for the first time there was a lot of nerves going into it. I think we didn't play quite to our full potential.”
Although the Marauders faced teams like the McGill University Martlets, who they have seen before in exhibition play, the games against teams like the University of Calgary Dinos, who play a much grittier style than Hanaka and the Marauders were used to, caught them off guard. But Hanaka believes that having been there before, in addition to having such a tough OUA season this year and playing against highly skilled Ontario teams, will help the Mac women get to that top level to compete at Nationals.
“Knowing that we got there is a huge step in our team success,” Hanaka said. “Of course, our ultimate goal was getting to Nationals and getting a medal would have been a bonus, but I think for a young team with lots of changes, that was a huge stepping stone for us. So right now we are just making sure we have an opportunity to get back there to prove that we deserve to be there and that we can do better than we did last year.”
So far ensuring that OUA playoff spot has been going well for the Marauders. Even with the loss of key veterans like Lexie Spadafora, Jelena Mamic and Adrienne Peters, Mac does not appear to have missed a beat. One of the reasons is the addition of Christina Buttenham, a Hamilton native and transfer from the University of Iowa, where she played from 2014 to 2017.
“It's always tough to lose senior players. With their experience on and off the court, it’s obviously a huge loss for us,” said Hanaka. “But I think gaining players like Christina, who's been in high-level basketball for years, is something that is huge. She stepped right in and already fills a leadership role on the team.”
Not only does Buttenham have National Collegiate Athletic Association experience, but she also played for the Canadian Junior National team in 2014, and was named an Academic All-Big Ten selection as a junior and as a sophomore while at Iowa.
Buttenham has already been such a great addition for the team helping defensively, averaging 5.4 rebounds a game and having the fourth highest points per game average on the team, with 9.9. The help has been able to give Hanaka the opportunity to have big games like she did this past weekend against the University of Guelph Gryphons.
With a game-high of 28 points, shooting an astounding 62.5 per cent from the field and 72.7 per cent from the three-point line, Hanaka led the team to defeat the Gryphons 109-80 on the road.
🏀 FINAL: Hilary Hanaka drops 28 on the road, as @MacWbball blows past the Gryphons 109-80 to improve to 11-2 on the season.@mcmasteru returns home to Burridge Gym tomorrow! #GoMacGo pic.twitter.com/pEXrId3YnT
— McMaster Marauders (@McMasterSports) January 12, 2019
“Getting back into things after the holiday break is never easy, so just going back into these last two games I've been on myself to make sure I've been coming out with that fire,” said Hanaka. “Of course, once you start hitting those first couples of shots and my teammates are cheering for me on the bench and making great passes, it just makes it so much fun to play with them and to do well.”
Guelph was one of two wins this past weekend, the second came against the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks, who they defeated 59-43 to earn their sixth straight win. Having already played their most personal game this season against the reigning OUA champs the Carleton University Ravens, defeating them 64-52 in November, the worst is over and focusing on staying on top is the Marauders’ top priority.
“Just knowing that our end goal is to get that national championship helps us take every game as it comes and to not overthink them,” said Hanaka. “Another focus has been trying to remembering to take no game for granted, because there has been a lot of upsets in the OUA this year and we don't want one of those to be us.”
With the Marauders’ next two games coming against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves this weekend, they will be making sure they go into every practice seriously so that they are focused come game time, regardless of who is wearing the opposite jersey. This is the mindset the Marauders plan to have until the last buzzer goes off for the season.
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The 2017 Ontario University Athletics Final Four did not go as the Marauders had planned. Ending the season at second place in the OUA West division, the team looked like they had a strong chance at moving on to the national championships.
Unfortunately, the trip was never meant to be as Mac struggled in their playoff matches, falling short of bringing home any hardware. The end to the season felt undeserved, but those tough-to-accept losses are far behind the 2018 team as they face the challenges of this young season.
This season appeared to be a tough test right from the start for the Marauders as a significant number of upper-year players were put on a team suspension and were forced to sit out the first four games of the season. This left a hole in leadership, calling for younger players to step up.
One such player is Antonio Sereno, a third-year winger who started six of the 13 games he played in last season. This season he had to step up and be one of the players to lead by example.
“I got to be more of a leader on the field this year because most of the guys were suspended,” Sereno said. “I was one of the older guys, so you kind of have to lead the way, show the rookies and set an example.”
That is something that Sereno accomplished on the field during Mac’s Aug. 31 game against the Western Mustangs, when the third-year notched a goal in the eightieth minute. It was his first goal of the season and gave the Mac men their third straight win to start the year.
Sereno points to the culture of the team, a united front of rookies and veterans, as a key reason why the Marauders were able to remain successful despite some holes in the roster.
“Everybody's on the same page,” Sereno said. “We just really clicked. It's like we've been playing for a while, but realistically, it's been three, four weeks and yet everybody's just on the same page.”
“Everybody wants to be there,” Sereno added. “We celebrate every goal as a team. It's like we've won a championship. Even here at Mac, you got to go over the stands but we just jump up. I love it. Like even at Western, guys are running across the field. It's amazing.”
Throughout their six games, Mac has mostly played in close contests, boasting a goal differential of +4. This is in line with Mac’s style as Sereno described the Marauders as a team that excels on the counter-attack.
“We do our job defensively everybody works hard, and then on the counter we just we just click,” Sereno said. “I don't think we're more of an offensive team, we just work hard defensively and then when we get that chance we go.”
However, the counter-attack was missing over the weekend as the Marauders had a tough time on the pitch, scoring one goal in two games against York and Guelph. They will need to work hard to get that counter-attack back on track and luckily head coach Dino Perri has been able to keep the team competitive while training.
“Like [coach Perri] says, nobody has a guaranteed spot on the team, anybody could come in,” Sereno said. “Rookies could come in and fill in spots without any problem and it's just the hard work people are putting in. Everybody's working hard, even in training. I love to see it. It's amazing.”
After a Sept. 14 match against Brock, Mac will get a little break over Homecoming weekend, where they can use that hard work and grit to prepare for the last part of the season. Sereno believes that this team can end this season with a better result than last year, but to do so they will need to put the work in.
“I just hope things go our way,” Sereno said. “There's a lot of potential on our team and, like [coach Perri] said, if we work and we want to get to that next step I think Nationals is possible for us. That's how much talent and potential we have, we just got to put our mind to it and work.”
Six games into the season, coach Perri and the Marauders are on the right track to amass another successful season on the pitch. With a long road still ahead to the end of the regular season, the team will need to continue to work hard if they want to pull ahead in a division full of tough teams.
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