The result was the fourth victory in five outings for McGill, which improved their third-place standing in the RSEQ conference to 6-3. For last-place Ottawa, they dropped to 0-7.
It was a much closer game than a 3-0 result normally indicates. McGill had the edge in kills (43-30), aces (11-9) and digs (40-37) but the Gee-Gees had slight advantages in stuff blocks (5-4) and assists (26-25).
“We have been playing many games in recent weeks and I sence some fatigue (affecting the team) as we approach the end of the semester,” said McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau. “However, we were able to have good ball control today and we served very well, which limited Ottawa’s offence. We made a few mistakes offensively and that kept the last two sets close.”
Iannotti, a 5-foot-9 power-hitter, scored all of her points on the strength of a game-high 15 kills. The software engineering junior also registered the game’s second-highest dig total on defence with seven.
Teammates Clara Poireof Blainville, Que., and Charlene Robitailleof St. Jean, Que., also reached double digits with 14 points and 11.5, respectively.
Poiré, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter, scored her points on the strength of 13 kills and a pair of assisted blocks. The kinesiology junior also matched Iannotti with seven digs and registered a serve receive ratio of 1.80. Robitaille, a veteran middle blocker had a much more even distribution to her scoring. The nutritutional science senior tallied four kills, a season-high seven service aces and an assisted block, in addition to a half-dozen digs.
“Clara is improving a lot and growing as a volleyball player,” said Béliveau. “I am impressed with her progression especially after the pandemic year off. She is a young athlete with much more to come, along with many other young ones we have in our group.”
Andreanne Tremblay, the McGill setter, registered 10 assists and a game-high 11 digs. She added three kills, one ace and an assisted block.
“Andréanne had a great game,” noted Béliveau. “Her distribution of sets gave a great advantage to our hitters in addition to her contribution on offence.”
The Gee-Gee-Gees had two players in double figures, with Avery Hughes and Alana Leung each collecting 10.5 points.
McGill (6-3) has only one more match remaining before the exam break. After a bye week in the schedule, the third-place Martlets will host fourth-place Laval (4-3) on Sunday, Nov. 28 on a 3 p.m. start at Love Competition Hall. It will be payback time as the Rouge et Or defeated McGill 3-1 in Quebec City on Oct. 29.
“We will now focus on some productive practice time to prepare for our last game of the semester,” Béliveau added. “We will be applying what we have worked on lately.”
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