MONTREAL -- Maude Babin and Adryanna Dorismond-Rodrigue scored 14.5 points apiece as ninth-ranked Université de Montréal defeated No. 6 McGill 3-1 to force a rubber match in the RSEQ women's volleyball league championship best-of-three series, Saturday. UdeM took the first set 27-25 and McGill rallied back to win the second 25-13 but the Carabins then posted identical 25-23 sets to even the series at 1-1. The Martlets had taken the series opener 3-1 on Friday.
 
The cross-town rivals will meet in Sunday's winner-take-all affair at Love Competition Hall. It will be their third confrontation in three days, with tip-off set for 2 p.m. To the winner goes the spoils. Up for grabs is the RSEQ crown and a ticket to the USPORTS Final Eight national championship in Edmonton, March 15-17.
 
"The game was high-intensity today, for both teams, and there were a lot of lead changes," said Martlet bench-boss Rachele Beliveau. "We played well, comparable to the opener but Montreal played an outstanding game today. Their offence was similar to how they played in the opener on Friday but defensively, they had a lot of balls and stepped up their game."
 
McGill had an 81-76 advantage in digs, a 10-7 margin in stuff blocks and an 11-7 edge in service aces. The Carabins held a 49-43 edge in kills.

"Overall we passed well, were more consistent in serving and our hitting efficiency was quite good," added Beliveau. "Our defence was not as sharp as in Game 1 but that was it. We were there and played strong. We stayed even with Montreal the entire game and I really thought we would take it."

Leading the Martlets offence was Claire Vercheval of St. Julie, Que., who scored a game-high 16.5 points on 14 kills, a service ace, and 1.5 blocks. The 6-foot-1 junior also added nine digs on defence.
 
McGill freshman Charlene Robitaille contributed 10 kills and 2.5 blocks, while senior Emilie Matte De Grasse tallied nine kills to go along with three service aces and 16 digs. Teammate Andreanne Tremblay, a sophomore setter from Longueuil, Que., also registered 16 digs to go along with 33 assists. Mila Krunic, a senior middle-blocker, recorded five aces, three aces and five blocks.
 
Carabins rookie Olympe Desmedt, a native of Cannes, France was the third UdeM player to reach double digits, with 13.5 points.

Since the Quebec league was founded in 1972, the Carabins have won 12 Quebec banners, including the last four and nine of the past 11. McGill will be gunning for their first-ever conference championship on Sunday.

Looking at the head-to-head record between McGill and Montreal this season, the Martlets have taken five of eight meetings overall, including three of four confrontations in regular season play.