MONTREAL – Melanie Dormann had 13 kills as McGill swept the Piranhas from École de technologie supérieure 3-0 in women’s volleyball exhibition play at Love Competition Hall, Wednesday. The set scores were 25-17, 25-19 and 25-15 in a contest that took just 74 minutes to play.
This was the first of two confrontations with ETS, a Montreal-based institution, which has posted a 3-3 record this far in its schedule of non-conference games against RSEQ teams. The Piranhas be officially joining the league next season. As such, McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau took advantage to rest her five starters and give the bench an opportunity to hone their skills.
“We did the same preparation that we would normally do for a regular season game, although we didn’t know their players that well in terms of speed and power,” said Beliveau. “For sure, the rhythm and intensity were not the same as it is when we play against the top seven teams in our league. “It’s sometimes hard to adjust our style for these type of games because we train to play faster but here, the game was at a slower pace and we tended to rush things when we should have been more patient.”
Dormann, a science senior from Ottawa, also contributed five digs and one assist. She served as the team’s acting captain for the game.
Another member of the Martlets to reach double-digits in scoring with Rio Pesochin, a management junior from Vancouver, B.C., who tallied 11.5 points – on six kills, three aces and 2.5 stuff blocks – to go along with a half-dozen digs and four assists.
Selima Guidara, a political science freshman who earned her first start at setter (other than in preseason play), registered 27 assists with five kills, four digs and one assisted block.
All the regular starters were dressed but didn’t see any duty, except for middle blocker Meaghan Smith, a senior from Vancouver, B.C., who played in one set only.
The team passing ratio was 2.10 (out of 3), led by Esther Lim, a freshman from Delta, B.C., who had a serve-receive of 2.15.
“We didn’t have a lengthy preseason (unlike in previous years) but played a lot of games over the semester, and we sense that some of our players are tired,” Beliveau noted. “So we really need to work hard on being able to control our recovery time.
This was the last game of the semester for McGill, which improved to 10-5 overall, and will resume regular season play in the new year. The Martlets are 7-4 in league play, and currently sit in a four-way tie for first place in the eight-team RSEQ conference. McGill, which will hold a four-day conditioning camp from Dec. 27-30. The schedule resumes on Jan. 12 at Sherbrooke (7-4), which will be followed two days later by a home game against Laval (6-4), in a 1 p.m. matinee. That last game will serve as the team’s Alumni Homecoming weekend. All former players are cordially invited.
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