KINGSTON, ONT – The McGill women's volleyball team swept Nipissing 25-19, 25-15 and 25-10 on Sunday to conclude the Queen's Invitational Tournament with two wins in three contests, improving their preseason record to 6-2 overall.
 
The defending RSEQ champions opened the tourney on Friday with a disappointing 25-16, 25-12, 25-21 sweep by the host Gaels, a team that McGill had beaten 3-1 only a week earlier at the UQAM tourney. But the Martlets bounced back with a 3-2 conquest over Toronto Metropolitan University in a two-hour, nine-minute marathon on Saturday. The set scores were 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 22-25 and 15-13.
 
"We played outstanding defence and we were good on our serve receive but it was hard to evaluate our total performance because we ran into some lineup issues and couldn't really work our systems," said head coach Rachèle Béliveau. "I liked the way we adjusted, fought hard and worked on skills other than our offence."
 
McGill was playing with a revamped lineup, due to injuries and illness, including the loss of the team's top two setters, senior Audrey Trottier and sophomore Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberte.
 
The setter role was handed over to Melanie Dormann, a 5-foot-11 power-hitter who had virtually no experience at the position and she managed to perform yeomen service. In 11 sets overall, the 21-year-old anatomy senior from Ottawa racked up 76 assists with 31 digs, 1.5 stuff blocks and a stellar 2.75 serve receive ratio out of three. On offence, she contributed a pair of aces with eight kills, a 32 per cent success rate, a 22 per cent kill efficiency.
 
The primary contibutors on offence included co-captains Charlene Ronitaille of St. Jean, Que., and Victoria Iannotti of St. Laurent, Que.

Robitaille, a senior middle blocker, had six aces and 36 kills over the weekend, with a 41 per cent success rate and a 32 per cent efficiency. Defensively, she registered 26 digs and five total blocks with a 2.07 passing ratio.
 
Iannotti, a senior power-hitter, had four aces and 24 kills, with a 36 per cent success rate and a 16 per cent efficiency. She added 30 digs and three blocks.
 
The Martlets will conclude their exhibition schedule on Friday, Oct. 7, by hosting Montreal in the formal game at 3 p.m., followed by an evening scrimmage with UQTR. The regular season opens at Trois-Rivieres on Oct. 16 in a 1 p.m. start.
 
SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca