Scott Radley: Mac’s golden dream dies at the hands of Trinity Western. Again.

Turns out not every great story has a happy ending.

The dream scenario that had legendary McMaster University volleyball coach Dave Preston ending his 22-year run at the school with his first national championship came to a painful end on Saturday evening when his Marauders lost to Trinity Western University in four sets (25-27, 25-20, 25-21, 25-21).

It was volleyball at an incredible level. The margins between the two teams were razor thin. It truly could've gone either way, especially after the home side took the opening set.

We definitely felt like we had it," says outside hitter Tyler Pavelic.

Didn't work out that way. The Marauders will be playing for a medal on Sunday. Just not the one they wanted.

The result will be particularly bitter for Mac for a number of reasons.

They wanted to win gold. That's the biggest and most obvious one. Instead, they'll be taking on Alberta - last year's champs and the top seed here until they were upset by Sherbrooke in the other semifinal - in Sunday's bronze-medal match at 3 p.m.

The atmosphere was exceptional. This was tremendous theatre in a vibrating Burridge Gym where there were enough emotional swings to ensure there were no nails left to bite and no eardrums left unbuzzing when it was done. A crowd this great deserved a celebration.

Of course, the fact that it's Trinity Western again stings, too. Five times in the past decade they've run into the Spartans in a national semifinal or final. They've lost every time. Even though this is a new crop of players, everyone on the roster knows the history. And at a certain point, beating your head against a brick wall stops feeling particularly good.

Right now, they have to have a migraine. Especially since ...

I think it was definitely there for us," says libero Benjamin Kerkhoff, echoing his teammate.

And then there's the Preston situation. After all those years running Mac's program, the team's head coach is leaving the school after this tournament to take over Australia's national program. He's won 11 provincial titles, four national bronze medals and two national silver medals here. Never gold.

This was his last chance.

Earlier in the week he said that missing item on his resume doesn't drive him crazy. Perhaps. But after the game, he stood alone outside the team's dressing room for a long time, silently staring at the wall.

We really wanted to do it for him," Pavelic says.

They have one more match with him at the helm. A bronze medal on Sunday would still be a great achievement and a fitting way for Preston to exit.

But it wouldn't be what they really wanted.

Again.

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com