MONTREAL -- The McGill women's volleyball team unleashed a four-pronged attack as the sixth-ranked Martlets blanked No.9 Université de Montreal with a stunning 25-18, 25-23, 25-15 sweep, Friday. The first-place showdown between two undefeated teams was played before a boisterous crowd of 295, believed to be the largest in team history to witness a regular season volleyball game at Love Competition Hall.
It moved the Martlets into sole possession of first-place in the six team RSEQ conference with a perfect 5-0 record, two wins shy of the McGill record for most consecutive victories from the start of the season accomplished in 2015-16. The result was also the first blemish for UdeM, which tumbled to second place at 4-1.
It marked McGill's sixth victory in the last 42 regular season confrontations against UdeM. Including the preseason, McGill has now taken two of three meetings from the Carabins this fall, marking the first time since 2011-12 that they had beaten Montreal twice in a school year. That season, the Martlets won three of the matchups, including the bronze medal game at Nationals.
Emilie Matte De Grasse, a fifth-year physical education senior from Montreal, paced the attack with 11 points. She was one of three McGill players to reach double figures in scoring and was joined by junior
Rowan Fletcher (10.5) and freshman
Charlene Robitaille (10.5).
Junior Claire Vercheval fell one point shy of double digits with nine.
The Martlets held a 33-21 advantage in kills, a 12-11 difference in service aces and an 8-7 margin in stuff blocks. The Carabins only managed to gain an upper hand in digs, with a slight 39-37 edge.
"Initially, I was worried that our players would be nervous playing in front of a large audience like that," said
Rachele Beliveau, a former Canadian olympian, who improved her career coaching record to 625-517-2 overall in 28-plus seasons at McGill. "But the noisy crowd was definitely a factor in our performance.
"There were a lot of good rallies, on both sides, at the beginning. We were spread out on offence, which is hard to defend as we were putting the ball all over their court. But our defence was superb today and that made the difference. We dug a lot of balls and we served very well, causing an unbalance in the Carabins service receive. It was a good test for us and a great team victory."
McGill will put their five-game win streak on the line, Sunday (Nov. 4), at Laval, which sits third with a 3-1 record. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and the game is scheduled to be streamed live on the Rouge et Or
YouTube channel. The Carabins get a week off before resuming play on Nov. 9 when the host Laval.
BOXSCORE
| 2018-19 RSEQ Women's Volleyball Standings • Classement de la saison régulière du volleyball (f) de la RSEQ |
|
|
| 1 |
McGill |
5 |
5 |
0 |
15 |
5 |
470 |
392 |
1.000 |
0.0 |
10 |
| 2 |
Montréal |
5 |
4 |
1 |
12 |
7 |
426 |
385 |
0.800 |
1.0 |
8 |
| 3 |
Laval |
4 |
3 |
1 |
10 |
6 |
352 |
339 |
0.750 |
1.5 |
6 |
| 4 |
UQAM |
4 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
10 |
382 |
372 |
0.250 |
3.5 |
2 |
| 5 |
Sherbrooke |
4 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
319 |
371 |
0.000 |
4.5 |
0 |
| 6 |
Ottawa |
4 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
12 |
279 |
369 |
0.000 |
4.5 |
0 |
