Marauders massacre Lions

Victoria Alarcon
Sports & Health Editor
The game was just what the odds predicted it’d be.
A men’s volleyball team like McMaster, who held six wins and only two losses under their belt, against a team like York, on the verge of becoming second last in the standings with a 2-6 record. You might’ve expected a shutout 3-0 victory for the Marauders; you would’ve been right.
That team took it without so much as a fight.
The Lions were down after the Marauders took the first set 25-21, and that was the closest they would ever get to winning a set in the whole match. The consistent solid blocking, the quick reception and the veteran skills of Marauder Tyler Santoni overpowered the Lions until
the last minutes of the match.
“We just outworked them, we played hard, we served tougher. We just let it all out there,” said Santoni, finished the game with nine kills and is 15th on the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) leaders’ board. With a team like McMaster, you can’t afford any mistakes, and for York, the match was a pool of unforced error after error.
In the second set, York gave up points for balls that were struck too far and counted out of bounds. The lack of control and aim did the team over and gave McMaster something to take advantage of.
“We got to put the ball away,” said York head coach Wally Dyba, who has been with the team for 33 seasons. “We had too many unforced errors. We’re doing some things better, but bottom line is we have to put the ball away and unfortunately we didn’t do it enough.”
Defensively, the team wobbled with their blocks and passing never happened as much as it was supposed to. Though York middle hitter Greg Ivan came out with huge kills and blocks supported by Michael Kostiuk, the two were never enough to stop a duo like fifth-year player Santoni and Jori Mantha, who stopped any balls from falling onto their court.
“It was a challenge. We had a lot of our starters out and we have a very young team.” said captain Karim Khalil, who finishes his third year with the Lions this season. “We started four of our first year players, and Mac is a veteran team.”
The audience saw just how much the Lions were hurt by losing three of their supreme starters: Ray Szeto, Sam Song and Tom Podstawka. The three are the team’s reliable hitters, and often stack up good chunks of points, but were out due to injuries.
Even without their three starters, the York Lions should have made better decisions and could have made up for the gap in their lineup. The Marauders, it seemed, realized this and prepared well without their top setter Christopher Spack, who was taken out due to an injury in the first set. The Lions should have done the same.
“If you don’t show up to a match you’re going to get beat,” said the head coach of the McMaster men’s volleyball team. “We were prepared for that tonight and we’re fortunate we got the win.”
GAME HIGHLIGHTS ›
Marauders vs Lions
McMaster Marauder setter Christopher Spack goes down in the first few minutes of the game with an injury. He is carried out of the match for the rest of the night.
Captain Karim Khalil receives a yellow card for unsportsmans-like conduct in the second set after a net violation on the Lions. “The ref felt that we deserved that call. I think they called us on the net,” said Khalil.
Long rally in the second set from both teams as each make continuous digs and pass the ball swiftly between each other. The point goes to McMaster after Tyler Santoni strikes the ball down and makes it 1-4.
Match point goes to Santoni after a kill in York’s court, winning the set 25-18.
York middle hitter Felipe Humana-Paredes and Marauder
middle hitter Santoni are named players of the match.