Women's Volleyball | 9/23/2018 10:18:00 PM

MONTREAL -- The McGill University women's volleyball team opened their season with a perfect 5-0 record to win the UQAM Invitational preseason tournament over the weekend. They edged Dalhousie in a nail-biting five set match in the tourney finale, Sunday, at the Centre Sportif de l'UQAM. The set scores were 25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 23-25 and 16-14.

It marked the second consecutive year that the Martlets captured gold in their season-opening tourney at UQAM.

The team was sparked by fifth-year senior Emilie Matte De Grasse of Montreal and sophomore Andreanne Tremblay of Longueuil, Que.

The Martlets opened the three-day event on Friday with a pair of 3-1 victories over the RMC Paladins (22-25, 25-16, 25-14, 25-13) and York Lions (25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20). On Day 2, they defeated Dalhousie (25-11, 11-25, 25-17, 25-23) and College Edouard-Montpetit (25-15, 25-8, 25-18).

Matte De Grasse, a 5-foot-10 power-hitter majoring in physical education, racked up 56 kills in 20 sets overall, in addition to 15 aces, 58 digs, 1.5 stuff blocks and a 1.71 passing efficiency out of 3.0.  The 24-year-old connected on 30 per cent of her kill attempts and registered a 22 per cent kill efficiency.

Tremblay, a 5-foot-10 occupational therapy major, amassed 147 assists for an average of 7.4 per set. She also contributed 35 digs, 18 kills, 16 aces and three blocks. She was successful on 53 per cent of her attempted kills and a had 44 per cent kill efficiency.

"I'm quite pleased with our performance because I didn't know what to expect with this year's team as we are starting off with a number of injuries, including a few starters," said Rachele Beliveau, who has returned for her 28th year at the helm of the program. "We have a lot of depth but that was really challenged this past weekend because we had a lot of rookies in our lineup. The group that we were able to dress for the tournament was strong on defence, which really helped to control the play. As a result, we were able to overcome the offensive (firepower) that we were missing due to injuries. I'm happy with how our defence looked because we worked hard on that this summer and it really showed on the weekend."

Injured players missing from the lineup included four juniors, led by Claire Vercheval, an all-star power-hitter who suffered an ankle sprain in the second game, middle-blockers Elisabeth Perrault and Jane Van Ryn, in addition to setter Catherine Duchaine Also missing was senior Clare Nishikawa, a right-side hitter.

The Martlets will put their five-game win streak on the line at the Ottawa Gee-Gees Preseason Classic, Sept. 28-30, where they are slated to meet Acadia, Ottawa, McMaster and Manitoba before Sunday's playoff round. A victory in the tourney opener against the Axewomen would match the team record six-game win streak from the start of the season, which was accomplished last year.

MARTLET MURMURS: The veteran-heavy McGill roster features five freshmen, two sophomores, five juniors and five seniors, in addition to six redshirted freshmen... The leadership group is led by newly-elected team captain Rowan Fletcher, a political science junior from Montreal who turns 22 next week. The alternate captains will be the aforementioned Emilie Matte De Grasse and Elisabeth Perrault, a third-year management major from Laval, Que.