MONTREAL -- Catherine Amyot scored a game-high 26 points and team captain Yasmeen Dawoodjee matched a season-high with 49 assists as ninth-ranked McGill defeated the fifth-place UQAM Citadins 3-1 to close out the RSEQ women's volleyball regular season at Love Competition Hall, Saturday. The set scores were 25-17, 24-26, 25-21, and 25-17.

The Martlets begin the best-of-three RSEQ semifinal series against Sherbrooke at Love Competition Hall on Friday Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. Game 2 will be played at Sherbrooke on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. If a rubber match is needed, it is slated for 2 p.m. on Feb. 21 at McGill.

The Martlets won three of four confrontations in the season series against the Citadins, who were in their first year of operation in the RSEQ conference and will not advance to the post-season.

The event was concluded with a moving "Senior Night" send-off to Dawoodjee, a 5-foot-8 setter from Ottawa, who is the only player expected to graduate from this year's squad. Dawoodjee had eight digs and one kill in addition to surpassing the 40-assist plateau for the 10th time this season. The two-time RSEQ all-star finished the campaign ranked fourth in the nation with 784 total assists and was fifth in assists-per-set at 9.56.

"It was emotional but I tried to hold back the tears and mission accomplished... for now," said the fifth-year nutritional science senior. "I love playing with these girls and the five years have gone fast. I've been lucky to have a coach like Rachele. She's been an amazing coach and I honestly wouldn't be the player that I am today had I not been under her (tutelage)."

The team also paid a surprise tribute recognizing 25 years of service for head coach Rachele Beliveau, a former national team setter, who has now racked up a 554-486-2 record in 1,042 games overall behind the McGill bench. A touching video, which included a number of messages from former McGill players, scattered across the globe. Also, a plethora of Martlet volleyball alumni were on hand for the ceremony, including McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee Wendy Whelan, who went on to play for Canada as well as a stint with the pro circuit in Japan.

"I wasn't expecting that," said a misty-eyed Beliveau. "It was very emotional."

"We played well today," she added, changing her focus back to the season finale. "We had a breakdown in the second set and perhaps a little bit of worry about what was going to happen. But when we refocused on what we had to do and played our game, we started to regain our momentum."

McGill held a 75-49 advantage in digs, a 55-47 margin in kills, and a 14-4 lead in service aces. UQAM claimed a 9-4 difference in stuff blocks.

Amyot, an engineering senior from Montreal, tallied 22 kills with four service aces and added 11 digs.

Sophomore Myriam Robitaille, a six-foot middle blocker from Terrebonne, Que., scored 15.5 points with 11 kills, three aces and three stuff blocks. She added three digs and an assist.

Teammate Emilie Matte de Grasse, a sophomore power-hitter from Montreal, had 13 kills, an ace and an assisted block for 14.5 points, and was credited with a game-high 17 digs. Erika Cournoyer of Longueuil, Que., recorded 8.5 points, including a game-high five aces to along with three kills. Marie-Eve Dorion of St. Hubert, Que., contributed five kills, two aces, an assisted block, 16 digs and a pair of assists.

Emilie Germain-Russel of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., led the Citadins with a dozen kills and a pair of assisted blocks. She also had seven digs and an assist. Teammate Josyanne Grenier of Terrebonne, Que., collected a team-high 16 digs.

Looking ahead to the McGill-Sherbrooke playoff matchup, both teams posted an identical 15-7 record during the regular season but McGill had the tie-breaker, winning three of four match-ups in league play. Including tournaments, the rivals have met six times this season with McGill coming away as the victor in four of them.

MARTLET MURMURS: Among the former Martlets spotted in the post-game festivities was Annie de la Fontaine, Marie-Eve Bergeron, Marie-Michele Corrigan, Josianne Rozon, Britta Weiss, Monika Volesky, Joliane Allaire, Michelle Van Houtte, Ashley Norfleet, Ola Kobza, Genevieve Plante, Marie-Christine Lapointe and Marie-Claude Ferland. Among the ones that sent video tributes was Daphnee-Maude Andre-Morin, Kelsey Irwin, Kristina Pavlovic, Emily Kyte and Kaiva Mateus... Also on hand was former long-time assistant coach Felix Dion, who stepped away from coaching a few years ago after spending nearly two decades with the Martlets.

CIS STANDINGS

CIS SCORING LEADERS

 

Pos	CLASSEMENT RSEQ STANDINGS (FINAL)	MJ/GP	V/W	D/L	SG/SW	SP/SL	PP/PF	PC/PA	MOY/WIN%	Diff./GBL	PTS
1	Montréal	22	17	5	58	24	1885	1608	0.773	0.0	34
2	McGill	22	15	7	54	30	1930	1699	0.682	2.0	30
3	Sherbrooke	22	15	7	49	35	1852	1791	0.682	2.0	30
4	Laval	22	10	12	42	47	1921	1926	0.455	7.0	20
5	UQAM	22	5	17	27	58	1734	1926	0.227	12.0	10

FOR FURTHER INFO CONTACT:
Kirsten Whelan or Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info Office
(514) 398-7012