MONTREAL -- Veteran Claire Vercheval of Ste. Julie, Que., scored a career-high 26 points as McGill cruised to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Ottawa Gee-Gees in women's volleyball action at Love Competition Hall, Friday. The set scores were 25-6, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-18. The Martlets were dressed in pink, as the game served as their annual "Dig for the Cure" contest, in support of breast cancer.

The result extended Ottawa's winless record to 0-16 on the season and kept McGill's playoff hopes alive as the fifth-place Martlets improved to 6-9 and sit four points behind fourth-place Sherbrooke with five games remaining on their schedule.

"It went well for us in the first two sets but we lost focus in the third set," said McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau. "We made a number of subsititions but that should not have created inconsistency in our play to the extent that it did. That said, Ottawa had nothing to lose and played well over the last two sets. They fought hard for every ball and had a lot of digs."

Vercheval, a 6-foot-1 power-hitter, racked up 19 kills, four service aces and three stuff blocks. The 22-year-old physical education senior also collected 10 digs on defence. She was joined in double figures by Myriam Robitaille, a fifth-year senior from Lachenaie, Que., who tallied 13.5 points, on the strength of seven kills, three aces and and 3.5 blocks. Robitaille was also credited with one dig.

Sophomore Catherine Vercheval, the younger sister of Claire, led the team on defence with 16 digs and a pair of assists. Another key contributor on defence was team captain Rowan Fletcher, a political science senior from Montreal, who registered 11 digs. She was also credited with four kills and four assists, along with a 2.13 passing ratio..

Rookie Victoria Iannotti of Montreal, came off the bench to contribute nine kills and a pair of digs.

McGill dominated most of the statistical categories, leading Ottawa by a significant difference in kills (49-30), stuff blocks (14-1), digs (60-55) and assists (48-27).

Dana Bulloch paced the Gee-Gees attack was with nine points, while teammates Trinity Lusan and Robin Melnick chipped in with eight points apiece.

McGill now faces a virtual must-win game at second-place UQAM (10-5) on Sunday (Jan. 26) at 2 p.m. The Martlets then will host division-leading Montreal on Feb. 2, followed by three road games, at Laval (Feb. 7), at Montreal (Feb. 8) and at Sherbrooke (Feb. 14).

"We now have to look at ourselves as underdogs," noted Béliveau, whose troops are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2015. "We placed ourselves in that position and need to  show that we have the character to battle back."

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