TROIS-RIVIERES – Victoria Iannotti scored a game-high 20.5 points to spark the offence and Clara Poiré contributed a career-high 20 digs on defence as No. 10 McGill outlasted UQTR 3-1 in women’s volleyball at the Centre CAPS, Friday. In a surprisingly competitive game against the seventh-place Patriotes, the set scores were 25-20, 27-29, 25-20 and 25-16.
The result finally clinched a playoff berth for McGill, which can finish no lower than third after posting its fifth consecutive victory and ninth win in 10 games. The Martlets still maintain a share of first place in the eight-team RSEQ conference. McGill owns a 14-5 record with two games remaining, while Montreal is 14-4 with a game in hand. Sherbrooke looms, only one game back at 13-6. UQTR dropped to 2-17 and sits four points ahead of winless UQAC.
“It was a tougher game than we expected but it’s a difficult court to play on with regards to spatial awareness, and UQTR played really well, probably their best game of the season,” said McGill head coach Rachèle Béliveau. “They were well-prepared for us, tough on defence and didn’t make many mistakes. We struggled early on against their two left-handed hitters but we were patient enough to get through it and were good at not panicking. We re-focussed when we needed to do so and won a lot of the long rallies which was key.”
The game featured an epic showdown between southpaw siblings. Poiré, a fifth-year kinesiology senior who starts on the right-side for McGill, added 11 kills and one ace to her aforementioned dig total. Her younger sister, Catherine Poiré, a psychology freshman, started directly opposite her on the other side of the court, and collected a dozen kills, one assisted block and 14 digs.
“They both played well and it must have been difficult for their parents who were in attendance at the game,” mused Beliveau. “It reminded me of when Myriam Robitaiile was playing for us and her older sister Kim Robitaiile was playing for Sherbrooke, about 10 years ago.”
Each team tallied an impressive total of 81 digs, while the visiting Martlets had a slight 58=54 advantage in kills. But McGill’s kill efficiency proved to be the biggest difference with a .233 success rate compared to UQTR’s .188.
Iannotti, a power-hitter from St. Laurent, Que., led all players with 18 kills, in addition to a service ace and 1.5 stuff blocks. The fifth-year software engineering senior also contributed eight digs and a pair of assists on defence.
Also in double-digit scoring for McGill was co-captain Charlene Robitaille of St. Jean, Que., with 13.5 points. She produced 10 kills, two aces, 1.5 blocks, 13 digs and passed for a team-leading 2.31 out of three.
Noemie Boulerice and Marie-Pierre Gauvin paced the Patriotes with 15 and 14.5 points, respectively. Teammate Cameron O’Grady had a game-high 21 digs and setter Rachel St-Amand amassed an impressive 44 assists.
McGill will close out its schedule with a pair of home matinees against Ottawa (10-8) on Feb. 11 and then Montreal, in what promises to be the showdown of the season on Feb. 18.