MONTREAL --
Claire Vercheval of St. Julie, Que scored 14.5 points as fifth-ranked McGill swept the
Université du Québec à Montréal 3-0 to conclude the RSEQ women's volleyball regular season, Sunday, at the Centre Sportif. The set scores were 25-12, 25-27 and 25-20.
It was the 17th victory in 20 games for the pennant-winning Martlets, who broke their single-season record for league wins surpassing the previous high set in 2005-06 (16-5) and matched the next season (16-9). Overall, McGill owns a 26-8 record, nine wins shy of the school record set in 2006-07 when they went 35-19 overall.
McGill, which has taken four of six meetings against fourth-place UQAM (10-10) -- including a 3-1 mark in the regular season -- will now cross paths with the Citadins in the conference semifinals, a best-of-three series, slated to open at Love Competition Hall on Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m.
"I am quite happy with what we were able to accomplish in the regular season and I'm even more impressed because we had a lot of injuries in the fall," said
Rachele Beliveau, who owns a 637-520-2 record in 28 seasons as Martlets head coach. "We know the battle is going to be tough for the playoffs because each team wants the same result but we are focusing on one game at a time and we don't want to over think things."
In this game, McGill had the advantage in both kills (45-30), aces (8-2) and stuff blocks (6-4). UQAM held a slight 45-44 margin in digs.
Vercheval, a 6-foot-1 power-hitter, earned her points on the strength of 13 kills and 1.5 stuff blocks, in addition to six digs. The 22-year-old physical education junior finished third among league leaders in kills (3.08 per set) and fifth in aces (0.45 per set).
Montrealer
Emilie Matte De Grasse registered a dozen points, on the strength of seven kills and five aces. She added four digs and an assist. The senior power-hitter finished second among conference leaders in aces (0.51 per set) and sixth in kills (2.79).
Other Martlet leaders on the scoresheet included middle blockers
Charlene Robitaille (11.5 pts), a freshman from St. Gregoire, Que., and
Mila Krunic (9 pts), a mathematics senior from Oakville, Ont.
Top scorer for the Citadins was
Gabrielle Archambault with 8.5 points.
"We played the lineup in a rotation today, so that everyone can develop a good feel for the court in anticipation of our playoffs at UQAM," noted Beliveau. "It's a venue where we haven't played much this season and and I wanted them all to have more experience there."
UPDATED: The upcoming semifinal series is scheduled for three games in as many days, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. start on Friday, Feb. 22 at Love Competition Hall. The second game is set to be played at UQAM on Saturday at 1 p.m. If necessary, Game 3 will return to McGill on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m..
LINK TO RSEQ STATS
2018-19 RSEQ Women's Volleyball Standings (FINAL)
| 1 |
McGill |
20 |
17 |
3 |
53 |
22 |
1765 |
1540 |
0.850 |
0.0 |
34 |
| 2 |
Montréal |
20 |
13 |
7 |
45 |
31 |
1697 |
1617 |
0.650 |
4.0 |
26 |
| 3 |
Laval |
20 |
12 |
8 |
42 |
33 |
1673 |
1677 |
0.600 |
5.0 |
24 |
| 4 |
UQAM |
20 |
10 |
10 |
40 |
39 |
1764 |
1678 |
0.500 |
7.0 |
20 |
| 5 |
e-Sherbrooke |
20 |
7 |
13 |
36 |
45 |
1731 |
1786 |
0.350 |
10.0 |
14 |
| 6 |
e-Ottawa |
20 |
1 |
19 |
13 |
59 |
1421 |
1753 |
0.050 |
16.0 |
2 |
e-eliminated from post-season play
