OTTAWA -- Two members of the McGill women's volleyball team -- senior Daphnee-Maude Andre-Morin of Waterloo, Ont., and freshman Myriam Robitaille of Terrebonne, Que., merited all-tournament honours as the Martlets were swept 25-23, 25-21 and 31-29 by Ottawa to settle for second place of eight teams at the Gee-Gees Preseason Classic, Sunday.

McGill won three of five matches at the three-day event, sweeping McMaster (25-20, 25-15) and UNB (25-7, 25-23) on Day 1 before closing out the preliminary round with 25-18, 25-13 to Ottawa on Day 2. In the playoff round, the Martlets rallied from a set down to defeat their bitter rivals from Sherbrooke (22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23) to qualfy for Sunday's finale against the Gee-Gees.

"It was a tough loss in the final but we played very well, with a high level of intensity," said McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau. "I'm quite satisfied with what I saw from our group over the weekend. We need to work on the technical aspect of our game but the execution was there. The passing, defence and the hitting all improved a lot over the weekend."

Robitaille, a six-foot rookie middle blocker from College Edouard-Montpetit, led the team with 39 total points over 13 sets. She registered 29 kills, four aces, 16 digs and 6.5 stuffed blocks.

"Myriam is a young, very compettive athlete," said Beliveau of the 19-year-old biology freshman. "She has good speed and height really adapted to the university level very quickly."

Andre-Morin, a 5-foot-7 libero who has returned for a fifth year, had 48 digs in 10 sets and a 2.49 passing ratio out of 3. the master's student in sports psychology was kept out of Sunday's gold medal game as a precaution after taking a hard drive off her head in the semifinal against Sherbrooke.

"Daphnee was very consistent and played at a high level throughout the weekend," said Beliveau. "Her passing average was quite high and she dug a lot of balls but could have had much more had our opponents stopped hitting the ball away from her."

The McGill women are now 5-4 in exhibition play and will close out their preseason schedule by hosting the Martlet Invitational tourney, Oct. 10-12, where they are slated to play Moncton, Memorial and Montreal.

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
514-398-7012


OTTAWA TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
1. Ottawa (5-0)
2. McGill (3-2)
3. Sherbrooke (3-2)
4. Ryerson (2-3)
5. McMaster (3-2)
6. UNB (1-4)
7. Guelph (3-2)
8. St. Mary's (0-5)
 
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM:
Daphnee-Maude Andre-Morin (McGill)
Myriam Robitaille (McGill)
Kristine Yan (Ryerson)
Rosalie Coderre (Sherbrooke)
Alix Durivage (Ottawa)

TOURNAMENT MVP (tie):
Kira Tome (Ottawa) & Myriam English (Ottawa)


2014 uOTTAWA PRESEASON TOURNAMENT
* All Pool Play Matches are best 2 out of 3 sets

GARNET POOL University of Ottawa McGill University McMaster University University of New Brunswick	GREY POOL Université de Sherbrooke Ryerson University University of Guelph St. Mary's University
FRIDAY – OCTOBER 3rd COURT 1 COURT 2 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00   Ottawa 2 vs. UNB 0 (25-17, 25-11) Guelph 2 vs. Ryerson 1 (25-21, 19-25, 26-24) Ottawa 2 vs. McMaster 0 (25-21, 25-23) Guelph 0 vs. Sherbrooke 2 (21-25, 22-25) McMaster 0 vs. McGill 2 (20-25, 15-25) St. Mary's 1 vs. Sherbrooke 2 (21-25, 25-20, 21-25) UNB 0 vs. McGill 2 (7-25, 23-25) Ryerson 2 vs. St. Mary's 0 (25-17, 25-23) SATURDAY – OCTOBER 4th COURT 1 COURT 2 11:00 13:00   Ottawa 2 vs McGill 0 (25-18, 25-13) Ryerson 2 vs Sherbrooke 1 (15-25, 26-24, 25-19) UNB 0 vs McMaster 2 (25-23, 25-22) Guelph 2 vs St. Mary's 1 (25-21, 16-25, 26-24) *All Playoffs matches are best 3 out of 5 sets* 16:30 19:00   UNB 3 vs. Guelph 0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-19) Ottawa 3 vs. Ryerson 1 (25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22) St. Mary's 1 vs. McMaster 3 (25-18, 24-26, 25-27, 17-25) McGill 3 vs. Sherbrooke 1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23) SUNDAY – OCTOBER 5th COURT 1 COURT 2 11:00 13:30   5th place  - McMaster 3 vs. UNB 1 (24-26, 25-20, 25-15, 25-22) GOLD MEDAL Ottawa 3 vs McGill 0 (25-23, 25-21, 31-29) 7th place - Guelph 3 vs. St. Mary's 2 (25-20, 25-23, 21-25, 23-25, 15-11) BRONZE MEDAL Sherbrooke 3 vs. Ryerson 0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-20)