MONTREAL -- The 2019-20 McGill women's volleyball season opener brought both bad and good news to the host Martlets. The visiting Saint Mary's Huskies came away with a 3-0 sweep -- by set scores of 25-21, 25-21 and 32-30 -- to hand McGill its fourth loss in 11 preseason games.

Now the good news... it was only an exhibition game and served as a wake-up call. The Martlets have a chance for redemption when the two teams hook up again at Love Competition Hall on Saturday (Oct. 12) at 5 p.m. And, it will also be the last chance to fine-tune their game before the regular season begins the following week.

"We started late today, it was 10-1 before we woke up and got into the game," said head coach Rachele Beliveau, now in her 29th season behind the McGill bench. "It was our first home game and we kind of sat around for too long. In the second set, we were leading but lost a kwy sequence that really hurt us. In the last set, we were behind and then came back. It was a fast game and I was happy to get preparation time against a team of that quality."

Myriam Robitaille, a six-foot middle blocker from Terrebonne, Que., made her season debut after a one-year hiatus and paced the Martlets with eight kills, one dig and three stuffed blocks, along with a pair of assisted blocks. The 25-year-old has just returned to her alma mater after graduating with an undergraduate degree in 2018. A fifth-year senior, Robitaille, who missed the first 10 preseason contests due to work obligations, was assigned jersey No.2 after becoming a fixture at No. 16 in her four previous seasons.seasons

SMU (2-0) plays the Montreal Carabins on Saturday morning, before heading around the mountain to confront the Martlets (7-4) again in a 5 pm tip-off. The RSEQ regular season