How Mac keeps winning against NCAA’s best
There were fewer folks in the audience on Saturday night for the second-half of McMaster’s twomatch volleyball showdown with Long Beach State, than there had been when Ohio State rolled into town a few months back. It was still a good crowd. Just not jammed to the rafters like before.
Might’ve been the holidays. Students are still out of school and off campus, after all. Could’ve had something to do with the opponent. The 49ers aren’t as widely known as the Buckeyes. The brutally frigid temperature may also have convinced some folks to stay in the toasty comfort of their home, too. But there’s one other possibility. Maybe, just maybe, people are no longer surprised at the idea of the Marauders beating a topranked NCAA powerhouse. The shock factor is gone. Because, after Mac finished off Long Beach State with a five-set win on Saturday — a night after beating them in four — the maroon now own a seven-match winning streak over the top or second-ranked schools in the NCAA. Which is really quite incredible. “It’s OK,” Mac head coach Dave Preston deadpans.
The Marauders beat Ohio State in Columbus back in 2015, swept them in a two-match series here in Hamilton last year — just a few months after the Buckeyes had won the 2016 NCAA championship — swept the now-defending champs in two matches again this year. And then this weekend took out the second-ranked 49ers. Seven up. Seven down.
“I think what it does is make a statement about the quality and character of the student-athletes we have here at McMaster,” Preston says.
It does more than that. It speaks to highend Canadian volleyball across the board. Because, remember, as terrific as Mac has been over the past few years, they have yet to win gold at our national championships. Meaning there’s been at least one team better than them in each of the past few years. Yet Mac still consistently beats the American champs.
And right now, they’re ranked only ninth in the country. Suggesting a few Canadian teams could likely do what they just did. Which is pretty remarkable.
This isn’t lost on the visitors. Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe — the man who was the U.S. Olympic team head coach in London back in 2012 — says everyone on his roster knows what’s going on up here.
“Our guys are real aware of Canadian volleyball,” he says.
It’s why they wanted to come north in the middle of a brutal polar vortex over their own holidays. To face a team they knew would stress it, challenge it and expose its soft spots. Which it did.
The irony is, that’s exactly what Mac was looking for from the 49ers. Outside hitter Andrew Richards says every one of his teammates knows all about the NCAA and respects the players. He says the 49ers — which defended wonderfully — did a bunch of things they hadn’t seen before. And by pushing them to five hard sets on Saturday, they gave the home side the pressure it wanted in a big situation.
“There’s no doubt we’ll find ourselves in that situation, and we can think of how we got out of it,” he says.
Throw in the fact that Mac won without its starting libero (who’s been out for nearly two months with a concussion after crashing headfirst into a door post while diving to save a ball) and played most of the game without its biggest hitter and it becomes even more impressive.
Preston says this speaks to the team’s depth. More importantly, though, it speaks to their drive. “We play hard. And we don’t give up.” This is relevant because three months from now, the Marauders host the national championships at Burridge Gym. As hosts, they’ll automatically be in the tournament. But after winning two silvers and three bronze at the past five nationals, this season isn’t about beating NCAA teams — fun as that may be. It’s about finally getting over the hump and taking the big prize.
Their ranking — which could certainly rise, but probably not right to the top — means they’ll be underdogs, which is an unusual position for them to be in.
But Long Beach State helped them, they all believe. As did Ohio State. As did a preseason tour of Poland, where they played a bunch of pro teams. Being pushed and tested and exposed by their opponents was the real goal. Winning was a nice bonus.
“This is exactly what we wanted,” says Preston. “We couldn’t have scripted it any better.”