MONTREAL – Olympe Desmedt registered a game-high 20 points, including 18 kills, as the third-seeded Montreal Carabins erased an early one-set deficit to defeat visiting McGill 3-1 in Game 2 of the RSEQ women’s volleyball best-of-three semifinals, Saturday, at the Centre CEPSUM. The Carabins won by set scores of 22-25, 25-19, 25-19 and 25-17.
The result snapped Montreal’s 10-game losing streak against McGill dating back to 2019. The playoff series will be decided on Sunday in a 2 p.m. tip-off at Love Competition Hall on the McGill campus. Tickets will not be sold at the door and will only be available online here.
The Game 3 winner will meet top-seeded UQAM – which swept Ottawa in the other semifinal – for the league championship series, a title that the Martlets claimed last year for the first time in team history.
Everything appeared to be going smoothly for the Martlets, until it didn’t.
“I thought that the first set win would give us momentum but the Carabins (stepped up) their play after that and they were tough to stop,” said McGill head coach Rachèle Béliveau. “We have to improve our first ball contact, on both serving and receiving.”
U de M had a distinct edge in kills (64-41), aces (6-1) and assists (58-40). Perhaps the most telling metric was in kill attempts, where the Carabins had a lopsided 152-114 advantage. The Martlets held a margin in stuff blocks (9-5) and digs (51-48).
Desmedt was one of five Carabins starters in double-digit scoring.
The Martlets had three people in that department, led by Rachel Leduc, a management freshman from Montreal, with 13.5 points on a dozen kills and 1.5 blocks. Teammates Victoria Iannottiof St. Laurent, Que., and Clara Poireof Blainville, Que., tallied 10.5 points apiece. Iannotti added one ace, an assisted block and four digs, while Poiré collected 1.5 blocks and one dig.
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