MONTREAL -- Team captain
Myriam Robitaille of Terrebonne, Que., tallied 15 points as No.10 ranked McGill swept Sherbrooke 25-17, 25-23 and 30-28 in a hard-fought RSEQ women's volleyball match-up at Love Competition Hall on Sunday.
The Martlets swept the season series 4-0 for the first time in school history and also won a preseason meeting with the Vert & Or.
"Our three previous matches all went to five sets, so it was (a relief) for us to go back to a 3-0 game," said McGill head coach
Rachele Beliveau. "Sherbrooke is playing for their playoff lives and we had to work hard for this win. We passed better today, our offence was very good and we were high-hitting on them."
Robitaille, a six-foot middle-blocker, was one of four Martlets to reach double digits in points. The French literature senior registered a dozen kills, an ace and two stuff blocks. She also had a pair of digs and an assist.
Sophomore power-hitter
Claire Vercheval of Ste. Julie, Que., followed with 14 points, courtesy of 11 kills, two aces and a block, along with five digs. Sophomore
Elisabeth Perrault of Laval, Que., had 11 kills and five digs.
Rowan Fletcher, a native Montrealer, scored 10.5 points with eight kills, an ace, one stuff block and an assisted block. She was also credited with a half-dozen digs.
"We tried a match-up in the game so that Rowan would face
Maude Frechette, Sherbrooke's main hitter," Beliveau explained. "She did the job at the net blocking and eventually Sherbrooke ended up subbing that player out, so for us it was (beneficial) to have her off the court."
Frechette, who boasts a .236 hitting percentage and averages 2.54 kills per set, was held to one point in the contest.
"Rowan did the job in blocking a lot and she's hitting better," said Beliveau of the political science sophomore who plays the right-side. "Her whole game has improved a lot. She was a player that didn't pass much before, didn't play a lot of defence, and she has improved so much in all these skills. That was my challenge -- we had solid recruits who were really good offensively last year. But we had to develop the back line to be more consistent and better on defence and in blocking, so that we can use the height we have (to our advantage). Those are things we have improved a lot this year."
Junior setter
Thara Dawoodjee of Ottawa had a game-high 40 assists along with one kill and five digs.
"A lot of players have been rotating into the lineup," noted Beliveau. "I want to rotate so everybody stays in the game and is comfortable on the court. I'm going to have 12 players really ready to play once we get into the playoffs, because we'll need some depth. We're preparing everybody. I think we have even more depth than we did in 2012, when we went to Nationals and won the bronze medal."
Rose Brazeau led Sherbrooke with 10 points.
McGill had a 47-26 advantage in kills while the Vert & Or had a 6-5 edge in service aces, a 7-5 difference in blocks and a 42-36 margin in digs.
The Martlets (13-4) next visit league-leading Montreal (15-2) on Friday, Feb. 9. Sherbrooke (4-13) hosts UQAM (4-12) on Feb. 11.
| 2017-18 RSEQ Women's Volleyball Standings • Classement de la saison régulière de volleyball (f) |
|
|
| 1 |
Montréal |
17 |
15 |
2 |
45 |
19 |
1487 |
1252 |
0.882 |
0.0 |
30 |
| 2 |
McGill |
17 |
13 |
4 |
44 |
21 |
1474 |
1360 |
0.765 |
2.0 |
26 |
| 3 |
Laval |
16 |
10 |
6 |
39 |
25 |
1440 |
1355 |
0.625 |
4.5 |
20 |
| 4 |
Sherbrooke |
17 |
4 |
13 |
21 |
44 |
1353 |
1513 |
0.235 |
11.0 |
8 |
| 5 |
Ottawa |
17 |
4 |
13 |
24 |
47 |
1453 |
1580 |
0.235 |
11.0 |
8 |
| 6 |
UQAM |
16 |
4 |
12 |
25 |
42 |
1342 |
1489 |
0.250 |
10.5 |
8 |
