QUEBEC CITY – Victoria Iannotti of St. Laurent, Que., scored a season-high 24 points as McGill rallied from an early one-set deficit to defeat Laval 3-1 in women’s university volleyball at the Centre PEPS, Friday.
With two games left to play, the result clinched a fifth playoff berth in six years for the Martlets, who improved to 11-5 and sit second in the seven-team RSEQ conference, nestled behind division-leading UQAM (12-4) and ahead of third-place Montreal (10-6).
Laval, which dropped to 8-8, is now tied with Sherbrooke (8-8) for the fourth and final playoff spot..
The game was delayed 15 minutes due to the late arrival of McGill’s team bus plodding through sloppy road conditions. Laval took advantage to win the opening set 25-18. Undaunted, McGill roared back to sweep the next three sets, 25-16, 25-17 and 25-17.
“We tried some different looks at the beginning but that didn’t work, so we changed strategy and focussed on getting our offence away from the hands of the Laval (front blockers) so that they couldn’t defend and that adjustment worked well,” said Rachèle Béliveau, whose troops have posted a 20-8 record overall to reach the 20-win plateau for 24th time in her 31 seasons. With two contests remaining, plus anywhere from two to seven post-season games on the horizon, Béliveau’s record now sits at 696-552-2 overall and she is only four wins away from becoming the third Canadian university volleyball coach to reach the 700-win plateau in her coaching career.
Iannotti, a software engineering senior, matched a career-high 22 kills, to go along with one stuff block and a pair of assisted blocks. The 5-foot-9 power-hitter also added 11 digs and one assist in a defensive role.
Two other Martlets scored in double digits, with Masha Solaja (11 pts) a junior power-hitter from Toronto and Charlene Robitaille (10.5), a senior middle blocker from St. Jean, Que. Solaja had six kills and a game-high five aces, in addition to 11 digs. Robitaille was credited with seven kills, one ace, five assisted blocks and a dozen digs.
Montrealer Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberte, a six-foot setter and a transfer from the Rouge et Or, filled in for injured starter Audrey Trottier and had a field day against her previous team. The psychology sophomore racked up a career-high 47 assists, which ranked as the team’s third-highest total this season, behind the 50 and 49 assists previously credited to Trottier.
Leading the scoring for Laval was Justine Raymond (16.5 pts) and Eloise Ross-Tremblay (11.5).
“We also passed very well today with four players over 2.0 (out of 3.0),” noted Béliveau, who singled out Clara Poire(2.69), Robitaille (2.25) and Solaja (2.08).
The Martlets, who had the edge in blocks (12-7), collected 55 kills and made 25 hitting errors on 150 kill attempts to register a 20 per cent success rate in hitting efficiency.
Laval had a much lower 11.8 per cent efficiency (41 kills, 25 errors, 136 attempts). They did, however, hold the upper-hand in kills (55-41) aces (7-3) and digs (65-60).
The Martlets (11-5) will close out the regular season with two home games. Sherbrooke (8-8) travels to McGill on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 12) in a 1 p.m. tip-off at Love Competition Hall. Next week UQAM (12-4) will make the short jaunt to the Currie Gymnasium for a 6:30 p.m. start on Feb. 17, where McGill’s graduating seniors will be recognized in a ceremony. That season finale appears ripe for a first-place showdown.
If McGill ends up tied with UQAM, the Citadins hold the tie-breaker, having won the first two meetings with one remaining. Should McGill end up tied with Montreal, the Martlets hold the head-to-head tie-breaker with a 3-0 record against the Carabins.