Box Score
MONTREAL - Rookie Myriam Robitaille registered a game-high 18 points but it was insufficient as the ninth-ranked McGill women's volleyball team fell 3-0 to the No.2-ranked Universite de Montreal at Centre CEPSUM, Sunday, putting a halt to a five-game win streak in the Quebec league. Both teams now are tied for second-place with identical 5-1 records.

One saving grace in the sweep to their crosstown was the closeness of the scores, with the Carabins prevailing 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23.

Success against the Carabins has been hard to come by for McGill in recent years. The last time the Martlets came out on top was a three-set sweep in the 2012 Martlet Invitational bronze-medal match. In the last 43 confrontations between the cross-town rivals overall, McGill has only triumphed five times.

Martlets head coach Rachele Beliveau thought her team generally matched up well on the day, noting positive strides made against a team that usually requires the most game-plan adjustments, especially on their home court.

"Their style of play is different than any of the other teams in our league," Beliveau explained. "When you play Montreal, their rallies are not long. So either we score very fast because they're not playing that good on defence, or they score very fast. For us, not playing long rallies somehow disturbs the consistency of our game.

"Usually when we play at Montreal, it's really tough to serve-receive and, today, we did just fine. I think we're also blocking better than before."

Montreal led the way with close margins in most statistical categories, topping McGill in kills (41-36), digs (44-40) and blocks (12-7). The two teams tied with six aces apiece. Despite the win, the Carabins also committed more service errors (8-5) and reception errors (9-5) than McGill.

"The game plan was that we were going to play it at high-risk (to throw off Montreal's defence), try to serve hard, try to hit hard and not worry about the scoring and just stick to it," revealed Beliveau. But while the martlets were somewhat successful in that respect, hesitation proved costly in throwing off their up-tempo strategy. "As soon as we make a mistake, we often stop hitting. That's not what we wanted to do but we seemed to be afraid of making more mistakes."

Robitaille, a 6-foot middle-blocker from Terrebonne, Que., led the McGill attack and all scorers with a whopping 12 kills, three aces and four stuff blocks. Fifth-year setter Marie-Christine Lapointe finished with 8.5 points, with a team-leading 11 digs, while fifth-year middle Marie-Pier Durivage put up eight points. Meanwhile, setter Yasmeen Dawoodjee led the way with 33 assists.

The Carabins had a strong pair of efforts from Sarah Gosselin and Marie-Alex Belanger, who notched 14.5 and 12.5 points, respectively.

McGill (5-1) plays their first home game of the regular season next Friday (Nov. 7) against the Laval Rouge et Or (5-0) at Love Competition Hall. First serve goes at 7 p.m.


BOX SCORE
#9 McGill vs #2 Montreal
Montreal def. McGill 3-0
(25-22, 25-22, 25-23)
(2 nov. 14 at Montreal, Que.)

McGill (Kills-aces-blocks) - Myriam Robitaille 12-3-4;
Marie-Pier Durivage 6-0-3; Marie-Christine Lapointe 6-1-3; Ashley Norfleet
4-0-0; Catherine Amyot 4-2-0; Marie-Eve Dorion 2-0-0; Yasmeen
Dawoodjee 2-0-1; Totals 36-6-7.0. (Assists) - Yasmeen Dawoodjee 33.
(Dig leaders) - Marie-Christine Lapointe 11; Ashley Norfleet 9; Yasmeen
Dawoodjee 8

Montreal (Kills-aces-blocks) - Marie-Alex Belanger 11-0-3;
Sarah Gosselin 9-2-7; Marie-Sophie Nadeau 8-0-1; Alexane L. Joly
6-2-1; Vicky Savard 6-0-4; Mikhaella Blanchette 1-0-0; Katia Forcier
0-2-2; Totals 41-6-11.5. (Assists) - Katia Forcier 39. (Dig leaders) -
Vicky Savard 10; Stephanie Lojen 8; Marie-Sophie Nadeau 8; Marie-Alex
Belanger 8

Site: Montreal, Que. (CEPSUM)
Date: 2 nov. 14 Attend: 200 Time: 1h24
Referees: Hugo Giroux, Isabelle Robichaud
 

Pos	RSEQ STANDINGS	GP	W	L	SW	SL	PF	PA	WIN PCTG	DIFF
1	Laval	5	5	0	15	1	392	309	1.000	0.0
2	Montréal	6	5	1	16	4	486	377	0.833	-0.5
3	McGill	6	5	1	15	4	465	346	0.833	-0.5
4	Sherbrooke	5	3	2	12	8	452	410	0.600	-2.0

Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgill athletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
@EarlZukerman (twitter)