It was a tale of Jekyll and Hyde for the Ryerson Rams volleyball teams in Wednesday night’s double-headers against the McMaster Marauders at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. The men’s team lost in straight sets, while the women’s team did just the opposite, winning their match 25-19, 27-25, 25-23 against the defending Ontario University Athletics champion Marauders.
The women kicked off the night in style.
After a heated start, Ryerson and McMaster found themselves knotted at eight in the first set. It was then that the Rams started to catch fire. The team went on an 8-1 run and took the opener, 25-19.
However, the Marauders gained some traction at the beginning of the second set. After two kills from Joanna Jedrzejewska and two service aces from Lauren Mastroluisi, McMaster jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Ryerson was able to respond, erasing the deficit and winning the set, 27-25.
Much of the same happened in the final set as the Marauders came out with guns blazing. After mounting a 7-0 lead, McMaster was looking poised to send the game to a fourth set. But thanks to Veronica Livingston’s game-high 13 kills, along with Emily Nicholishen’s finishing touch, Ryerson completed the comeback and won in straight sets.
With the victory, the Rams improved to 7-1 on the season and find themselves tied with the Toronto Varsity Blues for first place in the Ontario University Athletics East division.
It was a bit of a different story for the men’s team.
The No. 2 ranked Marauders posed a stiff test for Ryerson, and they made their presence felt early, jumping out to a 16-12 lead in the first set.
The Rams battled back and found themselves within a point. But with the set winding down, Ryerson caught an unlucky break, blocking a McMaster shot out of bounds on the final play of the game to give the Marauders the opening set, 25-23.
Despite a heartbreaking loss in the first set, the Rams regrouped in the second. The offence began to click and Ryerson took a 16-11 lead. Not to be outdone, McMaster took advantage of some serving miscues and managed to take a commanding 2-0 set lead, winning 25-23.
The Rams refused to give up in the third, leading for majority of the set, but the Marauders proved to be too much to handle and went on to beat Ryerson in straight sets.
Robert Wojcik led Ryerson with 13 kills.
With the loss, the Rams fell to 6-3 on the season and third in the OUA standings.
The men will host the Western Mustangs on Friday, while the women will play the Waterloo Warriors at the MAC on Sunday.
Ryan graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 2015.