The McMaster badminton team concludes their official season with a three-day tournament hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University
Every year the McMaster University badminton team trains for one major competition — the Ontario University Athletics badminton championships. Months of training are put to the test at the OUA championships, which mark the end of McMaster’s official season.
This year, the Marauders finished in fifth place at the 2023 OUA championships hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19. The tournament featured nine Ontario universities, with powerhouse schools such as the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto.
The teams were split into two pools. McMaster was placed in Pool B with York University, University of Waterloo, Toronto Metropolitan University and Ontario Tech University. The tournament kicked off Friday morning round-robin style, meaning McMaster would play all Pool B teams to receive rankings for the final day.
In the tournament a face-off between two teams consists of ten matches — two women’s singles, two men’s singles, two women’s doubles, two men’s doubles and two mixed doubles. Each match is played to the best of three sets.
“Badminton is a pretty individual sport, because it’s either single’s or double’s [matches], but since this is more of a team tournament [and] it's whichever team reaches a certain number of wins first, I think it really grows a team and makes the team grow stronger — because not only are you rooting for yourself, but you're rooting for your teammates,” explained Davina Lee, McMaster women’s badminton player.
“Badminton is a pretty individual sport, because it’s either single’s or double’s [matches], but since this is more of a team tournament [and] it's whichever team reaches a certain number of wins first, I think it really grows a team and makes the team grow stronger — because not only are you rooting for yourself, but you're rooting for your teammates.”
Davina Lee, McMaster women's badminton
McMaster concluded the round-robin with a seven to three victory against TMU, a close four to six loss against the University of Waterloo, a strong ten to zero victory against Ontario Tech University and a tough one to nine loss against York University. Overall, McMaster’s two wins and two losses earned the team a chance to play in the OUA quarter-finals Saturday afternoon.
The quarter-final game was against the University of Toronto, the 2022 OUA champions. The Marauders fell with a narrow four to six loss against Toronto.
On Sunday, McMaster geared up for a final game against the University of Ottawa, as both teams fought for fifth place. The match-up stirred some feelings of deja vu from last year’s tournament, where McMaster and Ottawa played each other for a top five finish. Ultimately, Ottawa came out on top last year, finishing in fifth place while McMaster finished in sixth.
This year, McMaster led the contest against Ottawa five to four, though, the final outcome came down to the final set of the final match. After an exciting and nail-biting display of talent, McMaster won six to four and claimed fifth place.
“It was really nice, because only one or two games are going on at a time. So everyone on the team is watching the one or two games, and the one or two people who are playing, and we’re just cheering for our teammates. We sit beside the court and [show support] after every rally,” said Lee.
“It was really nice, because only one or two games are going on at a time. So everyone on the team is watching the one or two games, and the one or two people who are playing, and we’re just cheering for our teammates. We sit beside the court and [show support] after every rally.”
Davina Lee, McMaster women's badminton
At the end of this year’s championships, two McMaster badminton players received recognition at the school and OUA level. First year player Natalie Yee was co-winner of the OUA Women’s Rookie of the Year and was named as one of two Marauders of the Week on Feb 21. Second year player Jeslyn Chow was named OUA Women’s All-Star.
After the departure of McMaster’s former badminton all-stars, this year’s show of talent brings promise to McMaster’s badminton program. And while the season is officially over, McMaster badminton players can be found at various independently hosted tournaments, such as the Laurier Winter Open Tournament on Mar. 11.
The Marauders split a doubleheader with the Brock Badgers to finish their season with a losing record
The McMaster University fastpitch team concluded their season with a high-scoring doubleheader split against the Brock Badgers on Oct. 15 at Victoria Park. The maroon and gray team took the first of the two games with a 12 to eight score before losing the second game seven to 10.
After the homestand, the team finished their year with a record of seven wins and 13 losses. Through their 20 game season the Marauders struggled to find consistency with both their offense and pitching.
On Sep. 18 against the Carleton Ravens, the team won consecutive games following a torrent display of batting. Scoring a total of 38 runs across the doubleheader, McMaster claimed back-to-back victories with a 16 to two score win in the first game and a 22 to one game in the second. However, the team would go on to be shutout over their next three matches, giving up 34 overall runs and double digit scores against the Western Mustangs and Windsor Lancers.
From Oct. 2 and Oct. 8, the Marauders faced their worst losing streak of the season, dropping five straight games to slide further in the Ontario University Softball rankings. Even with the Brock split, McMaster was unable to qualify for the OUS championship, missing their mark by a three game margin below the Lancers and Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. In the end, the team tied with the Waterloo Warriors for fifth in the West Division standings after collecting 14 points.
For the year, the team allowed 158 runs to their opposition, the second worst mark in the league. Scoring 105 runs during the campaign, the Marauder’ run differential of -53 ranked the third worst overall behind Guelph (-118) and Carleton (-140), contributing to their difficulties in keeping games within competitive reach.
Scoring 105 runs during the campaign, the Marauder’ run differential of -53 ranked the third worst overall behind Guelph (-118) and Carleton (-140), contributing to their difficulties in keeping games within competitive reach.
When paired against their division rivals, the team ended up with an identical home and away record of two wins and six losses. For the overall year, McMaster fought their way to a win percentage of 35 per cent, improving upon their previous season’s total of 28.6 per cent alongside a record of four wins and 10 losses.
Despite the down year, bright spots emerged for the Marauders within their lineup. Pitcher and utility player Rhianna Guennel, who was named the one of the two top batters in the OUS in 2021, earned league all-star honours at the end of the season. Along with Guennel, rookie Paige Allen, who played third base, first base and the outfield, also received the all-star nod.
In her fifteenth year playing the sport, co-captain Alexis Crego discussed the hardships of enduring the season’s dense 20 game schedule.
“I’ve played in tournaments on my own travel teams, but never to this extent. . .You only get so much time so you have to mentally bounce back after every loss or every struggle,” said Crego.
“I’ve played in tournaments on my own travel teams, but never to this extent. . .You only get so much time so you have to mentally bounce back after every loss or every struggle,”
Alexis Crego, Co-Captain of the McMaster Fastpitch Team
From their first series against the Ottawa Gee-Gees before their two games with Brock, the Marauders played doubleheaders on back-to-back days every week from Sep. 17 to Oct. 8. This includes a set of three consecutive doubleheaders played on Sep. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 2.
Going forward, Crego believes this year will be pivotal in the development of her teammates and overall cohesion as a group.
“When our season is so short, I do think that the more we get to practice and the more we see each other as a team. . . We’ll definitely improve in communication and defensively as well.
Fielding eight rookies on their roster, the team looks ahead to 2023 with playoff ambitions following key experience and growth for its first-year players.
By Andrew Fayed, Contributor
Nikolas Motruk knew that the McMaster Marauders’ men’s baseball team would come out strong in their four-game opening weekend, but even the fourth-year veteran admits that the team outperformed even their own high expectations for themselves. With an absolutely incredible 58 runs in four games, it’s safe to say that the rest of the league has been put on notice, that this year, the Marauders have come to play.
“When I started in my first year, we had a total of four wins, and it really didn’t look promising. We had five wins the next year before we finally had a winning record at 10-8 last year which was the first time we had a winning record in five years. So, this year we definitely expected to come out stronger than ever, but maybe not quite as strong as we did,” says Motruk with a laugh.
The four games played this past weekend came against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the Ryerson Rams, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and the Carleton University Ravens.
“We’ve had a bit of a rivalry with them [UofT] over the past few years, last year they actually walked us off in an elimination game in the Ontario University Athletics championship, so we were definitely hungry for them. We knew we had to come out strong and set the tone for the weekend, and we scored five in the first inning,” Motruk said.
Motruk’s performance this past weekend jumped off the stat sheet going 9-15 from the plate, with five extra base hits, and 10 runs batted in. Motruk was not only a strong player on the men’s baseball team, but it was enough for him to capture the prestigious Pita Pit Male Athlete of the Week award. Motruk credits his ability to stay calm under pressure and his confidence in his batting abilities as the keys to his monumental success.
“You can never let baseball get to your head. You always have to keep the same approach and stay confident at the plate. I went into every at bat knowing what the pitcher was going to throw at me and knowing that I had a job to do. When your team is playing well, there are always runners on base so those RBI’s are more of a team stat,” said Motruk.
When questioned on being Male Athlete of the Week, Motruk was quick to build up his team and his sport instead of focusing on himself.
“It’s not so much of a me thing, I just feel so good for the team that now we’re finally getting this recognition. It’s really a huge step forward for the team in general and for baseball as a university sport. Some students don’t even know that we have a baseball team, so this kind of recognition is really cool,” Motruk noted.
As a four-year veteran, Motruk has been through it all with the marauders’ baseball team. But back in his first year, Motruk was initially worried about the difference in workload from high school to university as a mechanical engineering student and was very hesitant about playing baseball for the Marauders at all.
“I didn’t really want to play baseball at first, I thought that students were all set up to fail and the schedules were so hectic, I thought that there was no way I could do this. I have to give credit to my parents who really motivated me to give it a shot, and I joined the team. I played three innings in my first year, and that was definitely an eye-opening experience. That really motivated me, even more, to get better. I pushed myself hard over the next couple of years, and here we are today,” Motruk added.
You can see Motruk and the Marauders next on Sept. 28 as they face the Queens University Gaels and York University Lions doubleheader in Kitchener.
Nikolas Motruk - Baseball
Nikolas Motruk (8) OF
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By: Coby Zucker
In week one of the College League of Legends tournament, McMaster’s team was rated 11th overall by ESPN. That’s 11th out of 350 teams across North America.
“We didn't expect it to be that high,” said coach Pedro “Photograph” Ribeiro. “We knew that we had to make a name for ourselves because a lot of teams, typically when they see McMaster, they underestimate our ability just because a lot of these other schools on these rankings do have esports programs at their schools.”
Ribeiro and the team let the pressure fuel them throughout their strong 5-1 regular season performance, only dropping games in their set loss to York University. The hiccup in their otherwise dominant season meant they had to face off against the Rochester Institute of Technology in the first round, while other playoff teams were granted an automatic bye into the second round.
“It was a pretty thrilling series,” said Ribeiro. “I've never really been through something like that.”
The first game in the series against Rochester went Mac’s way in a fairly one-sided victory. In the next game, the team’s collective focus wavered, and Rochester snapped up a quick response to level the score at one game apiece.
Game three was a 42-minute slugfest that eventually went in the favour of Rochester. After the game, Mac put in their substitute Jungler in an effort to shake something loose. The result was an assertive win to put the series score at 2-2. More than four hours into the series, the last game of McMaster’s season began.
“I don't know how to describe that final game,” said Ribeiro. “It was just a really exceptionally played game by both sides, and it was a true skill match up. They were definitely on par with our abilities which, going into it, we didn't expect them to actually put up too much of a fight. But they really did give it their all.”
The early exit for the highly-touted squad was particularly difficult as a number of players and staff are graduating this year, including Ribeiro and the team’s Support player, Marty “Diminish” Kyorskis. Nonetheless, Ribeiro thinks that the remaining players will be back with a vengeance.
“That’s unfinished business,” said Ribeiro. “They want to avenge us next year. At least some of the guys, that's what they're saying. I know they're probably going to go hard and try to make up for the mistakes and get better.”
The season might be over, but Kyorskis still has much to be proud of at the end of his collegiate career. As a progenitor of the McMaster Esports club, Kyorskis was able to help start legitimizing competitive League of Legends and the rest of the esports scene at Mac. He feels that even more can be done in the coming years.
“I think [McMaster] is reluctant to support gaming, as they see themselves as more of an academic institution,” said Kyorskis. “They think that it's going to affect their image, for example. But as the sort of train departs the station, more schools will say, ‘Okay, we need to get on this because it's a big thing’. It is a thing. And we don't want to look like that school that's stuck in the past.”
Kyorskis would encourage anyone interested to take the same dive into the world of collegiate esports that he made in his first year at Mac.
“Work hard at it,” said Kyorskis. “It's not a walk in the park. It's a serious commitment. You're going to have to put in a lot of work and you're going to have to be able to balance your life around getting better at the game and surviving school, because naturally we don't want to give up academics in favour of playing the game. The potential is there because we've set up the structure. So work for it, earn it, and you can do it.”
So what’s next for Kyorskis and Ribeiro after they graduate? Kyorskis, as one of the best Support players in North America, seriously considered pursuing a career as a pro-gamer before deciding that it was not for him. Instead he is going to work on growing his Twitch.tv following to stay involved with the game.
Similarly, Ribeiro can see himself involved with pro or semi-pro League of Legends but feels that he will more likely keep up his competitive League of Legends presence by supporting the McMaster team as an alumnus.
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By: Graham West
Heading out to Kingston for this year’s provincial playoffs, Andrew Richards and the McMaster men’s volleyball team went up against the University of Windsor for their 15th-straight provincial semifinal appearance, and won, advancing to the finals.
Unfortunately, their championship bid ultimately fell short, suffering a heartbreaking loss to the hosting Queen’s University Gaels. Although the men’s six-year dynasty was broken, getting to the finals means they also have a spot in the national championship tournament, where they have another chance to go on the court and show everyone why they deserve to be there.
As regular members of the Ontario University Athletics Final Four under head coach Dave Preston for almost two decades, the team has certainly solidified a strong culture of winning. Although, even with prolific numbers and success, Richards says this doesn’t play into their mindset, and that they choose to look at the season on a game-by-game basis.
“Whether it’s a lot of times hosting in a row, or a lot of times being in the Final Four in a row, I think our program does a really good job of not thinking about that too much,” Richards said. “We don't get too far into that because at the end of the day, it doesn’t help us perform on the court. The group this year is really tight and we’re really good at understanding that when we’re on the floor, all that matters is how we can help each other, compete hard and enjoy ourselves.”
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The love of the game is one of the biggest factors for the team’s prolific success. Even so much as just being on the court means a lot to Richards and his teammates, making them fierce competitors as not many teams can match their passion.
“I think we’re lucky as student-athletes to even be able to play volleyball for McMaster,” Richards said. “So for us, we’re just thankful to play and have fun, and I know our hard work and all of our training throughout the year will help us get to where we need to go.”
Even though the team did ultimately lose in the finals, it’s only a roadblock on their way to taking on nationals, which has been a big focus for the team all year.
“I’ve found over my four years that the next two weeks happen really fast, so I think it’s easiest to break it up and take it game by game and enjoy things while you can,” Richards said. “Our team has higher goals than just provincials, so for us, it’s going to be crucial to refocus after every match.”
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Richards emphasized the role that team chemistry plays in the success of the team, especially when it comes to being able to pick each other up when things are down. This is mostly due to the fact that the team is so close and knows each other so well. This is a key reason why they are such a tough group to get through for any competitor.
“Over my years here at Mac, we’re one of the tighter teams,” Richards said. “It’s easy for teams to play well and feel good about themselves when things are going well on the court and you’re winning, but I think when it really comes in handy to have a tight team and work through things together is when things aren’t going well.”
By earning a spot in the provincial finals, the Marauders have also clinched a place at the national championships. The men’s volleyball team will be one to watch during the national championships as they look to make a huge statement after provincials and certainly have the potential to take home the national gold.
On March 15 at 6:00 p.m., the No. 7 Marauders will take on the No. 2 Trinity Western University Spartans to kick-off the U Sports Final Eight. The Spartans are also coming off a provincial silver medal, losing to No. 1 Brandon University in the Canada West Championship.
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By: Graham West
After a tremendous end to the season in which the men’s water polo team won bronze and the women’s water polo team finished fifth at the Ontario University Athletics tournament, the team looks to have a great season ahead next year, guided by the water polo OUA Coach of the Year Quinn Fairley.
This is the fourth time coach Fairley has received this award, and when asked about what winning coach of the year meant to the venerated coach’s response was quick to point out how much the team was involved in the award.
“The team really looked together,” Fairley said. “The way the guys operated in the water, the way that they communicated with each other. They were just a really together unit, and for me to win Coach of the Year, it’s an absolute compliment to them.”
Part of coach Fairley’s success can be attributed to his past experience as a player for the McMaster water polo team.
“I can relate to exactly what they’ve done,” Fairley said. “Especially as a McMaster player, you know going through the OUA season, going through midterms and all of the external stresses that a varsity athlete would have.”
He took a different approach with playing time for the season, to get more players in the pool. This tactic was successful as the players believed in each other’s abilities to make an impact in the pool, even though some players received less playing time for the purpose of chemistry.
“When I think of character, we put in a different system of substituting,” Fairley said. “Which meant some people actually played less than they might have in years past, because we just took a little different focus and a different way of going about it, and this is where the team brought in to it and then brought in to each other.”
Chemistry, camaraderie and depth are what coach Fairley attributes to their success during the season and at the OUA championship. Utilizing everyone's capabilities and having a great foundation of trust in all of his players, regardless of experience, has been a great contribution to the water polo teams.
“What we’re building on more so is camaraderie, using a couple of key pieces but, the other side of our team especially by the minutes and by playing time we were without a doubt one of the deeper teams in the league,” Fairley said. “We made a huge step in culture, we made a huge step in the way that we operate together, and that’s really what the result is.”
After battling through adversity such as injuries and other issues over the past few seasons, getting a medal at the OUA tournament was really important to many players on the team. As something that has escaped the team for a few years, making the podium was definitely one of the highlights of the tournament.
“We’ve had teams that I’ve thought, and think still to this day, should have medaled prior to this year for circumstances, whether it be a poor performance or injuries or whatever, we just never got it done,” Fairley said.
The water polo teams will look to repeat their success next year, building off of this year’s newfound success while continuing the new culture of trust developed by coach Fairley as they strive to receive a medal once more.
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