TORONTO - The Ryerson men's volleyball team is hitting the road this weekend to take on the No. 4 McMaster Marauders in Hamilton and the Brock Badgers in St.Catharines. 

The Rams are coming off back-to-back home games last weekend which saw them sweep the Western Mustangs and drop a five-set match to the Windsor Lancers. With a dominant performance against the Mustangs and a tough battle against the Lancers that they will want back, the Rams will be hungry and most likely sharper with a full week of training behind them this time.  

Ryerson's first opponent is the province's top-ranked team in the Marauders who are 7-1 to start the season. The Marauders are a big and experienced team who has the lowest tally of errors in the OUA. The Marauders also defeated the top-ranked team in the nation in Trinity Western on two occasions during exhibition matches at the beginning of 2020. 

One point that could be in the Rams' favour is that Friday's match will be the Marauders' first game of the semester, so the Rams will be looking to catch McMaster on their heels. 

Players to watch for the Marauders will most likely be Matt Passalent and Nathan Delguidice, a pair of senior outside hitters that despite not tallying too many kills so far this season, hit very efficiently to go along with strong defensive skills. 

The Rams will then be back in action on Sunday to take on the 4-5 Brock Badgers. The Badgers share many commonalities with the Rams including a similar number of kills, errors, and digs this season. The Badgers also play in a tough OUA West conference, so they may be a stronger team than their record shows. Their last match played was a 3-0 win over the now 8-2 Guelph Gryphons, a team that swept the Rams, so Ryerson won't be overlooking their opponent. 

One area of play that the Rams have been better than the Badgers at so far this season, is on the blocks, where Ryerson has 90 total blocks against Brock's 58. This lack of net presence will also allow the likes of Xander Ketrzynski (Toronto) and Navreet Suhan (Mississauga, Ont.) to flourish on the attack. Suhan and other Rams blockers will also look to stop Brock's outside hitter Logan House who averages 3.21 kills-per-set, which ranks fifth in the OUA. 

Rams outside hitter Taryq Sani (Scarborough, Ont.) will also look to have a bounce-back game, after having just nine kills in five sets against Windsor, along with seven service errors.

Make sure to catch the Rams at 8:00 p.m. this Friday and 4:00 p.m. this Sunday, both games being available on OUA.tv.