McMaster Volleyball: 2018-19 Season Preview

With the pre-season in the books, and the opening serve of the OUA Volleyball season this weekend, here is a season preview of what to look for and what to expect from your Marauder volleyball teams.

The ladies team for the upcoming season are hoping they can continue their terrific form

Womens

The ladies team for the upcoming season are hoping they can continue their terrific form, after they come off their second straight OUA Championship appearance in 2017-18. However, this year’s roster sees a lot of familiar faces gone but welcomes plenty of new skill on what will be a young team.

The young roster for this year will solidify the importance of players who have seen plenty of action over the past few seasons. Fourth year left side Rachel Woock, third year middle Hailey Kranics, and third year right side Jessie Nairn, all saw regular action, and played a huge role in getting the women to a second straight final.

Rachel Woock appeared in 18 of McMaster’s 19 matches, averaging 2.18 kills per set (K/S), the third best on the team. She finished the season with nearly 15% of the team’s total points, showing how much of an impact she had on last year’s team, and how much her presence will have on this year’s new look squad.

Hailey Kranics, coming off a huge break-through season, where she was consistently the youngest Marauder on the court, appeared in every match for McMaster last season, and proved to be a force on both sides of the ball. Offensively, she averaged a little over two K/S, adding 11 total services aces (SA), while on defense, she led the team with 60 total blocks. Now entering her third year, her big game experience will be crucial to mentoring the younger players this team has to offer.

Jessie Nairn will be welcomed back with open arms, as she will be able to complete the front court consisting of more veteran players for the Marauders.

Jessie Nairn will be welcomed back with open arms, as she will be able to complete the front court consisting of more veteran players for the Marauders. Nairn appeared in 17 matches for McMaster last year, adding 1.6 points per set (PTS/S). She will likely see an increased role this year, along with Rachel and Hailey.

McMaster still boasts a deep roster, despite losing several starters from last season, while having a mix of players who are ready to step in and make an impact, as well as players that will be able to use some valuable development time.

Mens

The men’s team comes off a 2017-18 season where they won a sixth straight OUA Championship, as well as a national bronze medal in front of their home crowd.

The men’s team still boasts a stacked roster, including two OUA all-stars from last season, while producing younger talent that is surely ready to fill the void left by departing players.

Central to a Marauders team who will be looking for a seventh straight OUA Championship, will be fifth year outside Andrew Richards, and fourth year outside, Matt Passalent.

The men’s team still boasts a stacked roster, including two OUA all-stars from last season, while producing younger talent that is surely ready to fill the void left by departing players.

Andrew Richards comes off a season that saw him as the OUA West player of the Year, as well as named an OUA First-team All-star for the second straight year. Playing in 16 of McMaster’s 17 contests, Richards averaged 2.98 K/S, .52 service aces per set (SA/S) and a total of 3.9 PTS/S.

Matt Passalent comes of his best season as a Marauder, where he averaged 3.06 K/S, .58 B/S, for a total of 3.8 PTS/S, on route to an appearance amongst the OUA First-team All-stars. He, after already playing an increased role last season, will be an even larger piece of this team, after losing fellow OUA First-teamer, Brandon Koppers, who has accepted a contract to play professional volleyball in Poland.

Another important piece to this year’s team will be second year middle, Bennet Swan. Swan, who is coming off a rookie season which saw him make an appearance on the OUA West All-rookie team, averaged .65 B/S, and 1.7 PTS/S in 2017-18, and with an impressive year under his belt, he will be relied on to hopefully join Richards and Passalent as a new piece to McMaster’s revamped three headed monster on attack.

With McMaster losing a very minimal amount of players, the likelihood of anyone new emerging as a star on this team is slim, however, look for fourth year outside Nathan Delguidice to have an increased role, after having two 10+ point games in the pre-season, against Laval and Thompson Rivers.

Both McMaster Volleyball teams open their conference schedule on Friday, October 26th, as they travel to Toronto to take on the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Their first home game is scheduled for Friday, November 9th, against Queen’s.

Season tickets are still available on Marauders.ca, while single-game tickets can be purchased on game-days at the ticket booth on the Burridge Gym Mezzanine, and a reminder that McMaster students, with their student ID’s, receive free admission if wearing maroon