Hamilton, Ont. - In the 2007-2008 OUA championship final it was the McMaster Marauders defeating theVarsity Blues at the University of Toronto. The Blues returned the favour Saturday night at McMaster’s Burridge Gym, sweeping the OUA final 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-19).

The win is Toronto’s first OUA women’s volleyball championship since 2004 and secures the conference bid to the 2010 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championship at the University of Alberta, Mar. 5-7.

The large and noisy home crowd was it in it from the opening serve but the Blues seemed unaffected by the tough road environment. Both teams went right at each other to start the opening set with most of the points coming off extended rallies.

Karlee Diesing of Coquitlam, B.C. scored four of Toronto’s first eight points to give them the slight 8-7 lead at the first technical timeout. Waterdown native Heather Bansley helped Toronto build a 12-9 advantage and a her kill sent the teams to the second technical timeout with Toronto ahead by their biggest margin of the set, 16-11.

McMaster’s Shannon McRobert (Whitby, Ont.) responded providing back-to-back blocks to cut the Toronto lead to 18-14. The teams traded points until a McRobert kill made it a three-point margin in favour of Toronto, 20-17. That was as close as the Marauders would get in the set with Bansley and Kristina Valjas (Toronto) closing it out with kills.

Diesing had eight of her match-high 16 kills in the opening set.

The second set would prove to be the closest of the match despite Toronto building an early lead. Blues setter Kathleen Mahannah from North Vancouver, B.C. served Toronto to their first five points and a Valjas kill made it 6-0 soon there after.

Oshawa, Ont. native Kaila Janssen got the Marauders on the board with a kill that seemed to spark the offence. Coming out of the first technical timeout down 8-5, some key blocking and a kill from Larissa Puhach (Burlington, Ont.) tied the set at 8-8.

Bansley responded with back-to-back kills to re-establish the Toronto lead and the visiting Blues would head to the second technical timeout up two, 16-14.

Out of the timeout, the Marauders kept edging closer to tying the contest until finally knotting things at 19. A McRobert kill gave the Marauders their first lead of the set, 20-19, as the McMaster faithful went crazy.

To their credit, the Blues did not buckle. Rebecca Crosier’s (Ottawa) kill tied things at 21 and a Mahannah block gave the Blues a 23-21 lead. The Marauders would tie it again at 23-23, but Crosier won a free ball to give the Blues set point. On the next serve, a Marauder attack went long, giving Toronto game two.

Down 2-0 in the match, McMaster scored first and a huge block on a free ball at the net by McRobert gave the Marauders a 2-0 lead.

McMaster started to gain some momentum with an early lead but it was Toronto that was ahead 8-6 by the first technical timeout. As was the case in the first two sets, the teams exchanged points for much of the set until a Valjas attack found the line to give Toronto a 16-14 lead at the second technical timeout.

Out of the timeout a Sarah Kieran (Hamilton, Ont.) kill made it 16-15 and she would team up with Holt on a block to tie things at 17-17. That would be as close as the Marauders would get as Diesing would score four of Toronto’s remaining eight points, including match point, to secure the set and the match.

OUA East division libero of the year Michelle Wood was selected as the Mikasa player of the match and championship MVP. The fifth-year setter for the Blues had 18 digs and contributed three assists in the win.

Diesing was an offensive force for Toronto, contributing 16 points. Bansley also scored in double figures with 12 points on ten kills and two aces. She also dug 19 balls on defence. Valjas rounded out the top scorers for Toronto with ten points on nine kills and two blocks assists, while adding 11 digs.

Fifth-year senior setter Jenn Holt (Hamilton, Ont.) was the McMaster Mikasa player of the match contributing 25 assists, 12 digs, and five block assists. Kiernan (8 K, 3 BA) and McRobert (7 K, 1 BS, 3 BA) each contributed nine points to lead the McMaster scoring.