Seniors honoured as volleyball Martlets sweep top-seeded UQAM to clinch second

MONTREAL – Co-captain Charlene Robitaille of St. Jean, Que., scored a game-high 15 points as McGill swept the division-leading UQAM Citadins 3-0 in women’s volleyball to clinch second-place in the final women’s volleyball game of regular season play, Friday, at Love Competition Hall. The set scores were 27-25, 25-19 and 25-19.

The result salvaged one of three meetings with UQAM this season and means that McGill (12-6) will host the third-place Montreal Carabins (11-6) in the opener of a best-of-three RSEQ semifinal series on Friday, Feb. 24. A second game is slated for the Centre CEPSUM on Feb. 25 and if a rubber match is needed, it will be back at McGill’s downtown campus for a matinee on Feb. 26. Start times have yet to be confirmed. The Martlets swept all four meetings with Montreal this season, including three in conference play.

McGill had the edge in kills (40-38), aces (5-2) and stuff blocks (8-2). The Citadins had a slight 63-60 advantage in digs.

“We played very aggressive today because we wanted that win to ensure a second-place finish,” said head coach Rachèle Béliveau, whose record now stands at 697-553-2 overall in 31 seasons behind the McGill bench. “We were hitting hard but UQAM dug a lot of balls that we thought were going to drop and on some of them, we wondered how they could dig that well. They were very agile and were reading the plays well.”

Robitaille, a fifth-year veteran,  paced the offence with 10 kills, one service ace, a pair of stuff blocks and four assisted blocks. She added eight digs and one assist on defence.

The only other member of the Martlets to reach double-digit scoring was Rachel Leduc, a management freshman from Montreal, who collected 10 kills, one ace and two assisted blocks, to go along with six digs.

Co-captain Victoria Iannotti, a software engineering senior from St. Laurent, Que., contributed nine kills, one assisted block, 14 digs and an assist.

“It was a great game (for us), very stable from the beginning to the end,” Iannotti said in a post-game interview with the McGill Streaming Network. “That’s something that we’ve been working on for a long time, like (having) energy, a great start and not dropping (our level of play) throughout the game. So we did  good job of that in preparation for the upcoming playoffs. We’re really trying to build something together. One of our big strengths is the depth that we have on the team… it’s really been a big part of where we are now and where we’re going to go for the rest of the season… We have a strong desire to win our second banner, to go back to Nationals and to perform at a highest level in Canada.”

Clara Poire, a kinesiology senior from  Blainville, Que., led the team defensively with a stellar 2.38 passing ratio (out of 3) and had six digs. She also contributed offensively with seven kills, a pair of aces and two assisted blocks.

Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberte, a psychology sophomore from Montreal, started again for injured setter Audrey Trottier and racked up a game-high 33 assists, along with six digs, two aces and a kill. Chouinard-Laliberte has racked up 30-plus assists in each of her four starts.

In an emotional post-game ceremony, the Martlets coaching staff paid tribute to two seniors expected to graduate, namely Catherine Vercheval of Ste. Julie, Que., and Meaghan Smith of Vancouver, B.C.

Vercheval, the team’s 5-foot-9 libero, registered a season-high 17 digs and a pair of assists.

Sabrina Mayer led the Citadins with 15 points, 14 of them on kills.

The other RSEQ semifinal series will feature top-seeded UQAM (13-5) against either Sherbrooke (9-9) or Laval (8-9), whichever finishes in fourth. A Laval road victory at Montreal on Sunday would clinch the final playoff berth as the Vert & Or hold the tie-breaker over Sherbrooke, after winning their season series 2-1.
 
BOXSCORE

RSEQ STANDINGS & STATS

McGILL IN THE NATIONAL STATS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)