women’s volleyball before a crowd of 991 at the Centre PEPS, Friday. The set scores were 25-13, 25-15 and 25-22.
Elyssa Lajmi paced the Martlets with 10.5 points, on the strength of 10 kills and an assisted block.
Laval, which sits third in the eight-team RSEQ conference, improved to 6-2, while fifth-place McGill dropped to 4-7.
The largest factor in the rendezvous was hitting efficiency, with Laval operating at 22.3 per cent compared to McGill with a season-low 8.3 per cent efficiency. The Rouge et Or also had a lopsided 10-1 edge in service aces.
“We certainly had difficulties on offence,” admitted McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau, whose troops had a 44-41 edge in digs, although Laval had an 8-4 advantage in stuff blocks. “But if there was a positive that we can take from this loss, it was that we played well defensively.”
McGill, which was the first team in the Quebec league to play 11 contests in a 21-game season, now has an extended 48-day break in the schedule for practice, exams and holidays. The Martlets are hoping to add scrimmages against Moncton and a Martlets alumni team of recent grads in early January. They will return in earnest to the court at Sherbrooke on Jan. 10.
“We had so many back-to-back games, were really rushed in our scheduling this semester and didn’t have any breaks until last week. So now we will have some time to rest, refocus and train to be better prepared for a good start in the second semester.”