VOLLEYBALL (w): Poire paces Martlets past Gee-Gees

OTTAWA – Clara Poire of Blainville, Que., scored a game-high 17 points as McGill cruised to a 3-0 sweep over Ottawa in women’s volleyball at the Minto Sports Complex in the nation’s capital, Friday. The set scores were 25-13, 25-22 and 25-22.

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 (42-32), aces (10-8), stuff blocks (6-3), digs (41-37) and assists (33-30).

“We have been playing many games in recent weeks and I sense 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.”

Poiré, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter, scored her points on the strength of 16 kills and a pair of assisted blocks. The kinesiology junior also contributed 10 digs and registered a passing ratio of 1.80.

“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.”

Victoria Iannotti, a 5-foot-9 power-hitter from St. Laurent, Que., scored 14 points on the strength of 13 kills and one block. The software engineering junior also registered six digs on defence. Teammate Charlene Robitaille of St. Jean, Que., also reached double digits with 11.5 points. The veteran middle blocker, who is a nutritutional science senior, tallied five kills, a season-high six service aces and an assisted block, in addition to a half-dozen digs.

Andreanne Tremblay, the McGill setter, registered 29 assists and 10 digs. She added three kills, one ace and 1.5 blocks.

“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 were led by Avery Hughes (10.5 points) and Alana Leung (9.5 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.”

BOXSCORE

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Off.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca