SHERBROOKE --  Sherbrooke surprised the defending conference champion McGill Martlets with a 3-2 home-court victory in an evenly matched women's volleyball thriller at Pavillon Univestrie, Sunday.

After dropping the first set 25-21 to McGill, Sherbrooke bounced back to win 25-21, 28-30, 25-23 and 15-12.

It was McGill's first setback after winning their first two league games, while Sherbrooke evened their record at 2-2. The Martlets are now 9-9 in their last 18 road games at Sherbrooke.

The key team stats were as balanced as they could be, with both sides racking up 60 kills apiece and dead even in stuff blocks with eight aside. McGill had a slight 63-56 edge in digs but the home side had the upper hand with an 11-5 advantage in service aces. The Vert & Or also held a slight 58-57 margin in assists. McGill committed 28 errors on 60 kill attempts, while Sherbrooke had 29 on 60 attempts.

"It was a tight game, from beginnning to the end and had a very good pace," said McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau."We were not as sharp as usual and there were little things that we could have done better and that makes a big difference in a game that is tight. We had some very good rallies but there were some times when we received free balls and were not sharp on them. Also, I think that we could have served tougher without losing too much. We had about 12 serving mistakes today and only five aces. We need more balance there between our aces and serving errors."

Senior Victoria Iannotti of St. Laurent, Que., paced the Martlets with a game-high 16.5 points on the strength of 15 kills and 1.5 blocks. She added six digs and was credited with an assist.

Other leading scorers for McGill included Montrealer Rachel Leduc (15.5 pts) and Charlene Robitaille (14.5 pts) of St. Jean, Que.

Martlets setter Audrey Trottier racked up 48 assists but she was topped by Sherbrooke's Emma Bergeron, who had 50.

Four players reached double-digits in scoring for Sherbrooke, led by Gabrielle Minier with 15 points, with a dozen kills, a pair of aces and two assisted blocks. Teammate Catherine Lavigne contributed 14.5 points, while Sophie Tremblay and Madeleine Ouellet-Lu added 14 apiece.

McGill (2-1) returns to the court on Nov. 4 when the Martlets make the short cross-town jaunt to UQAM (2-2) for a 6 p.m. start. Sherbrooke (2-2) plays in Montreal against the Carabins (3-1) on Nov. 6.

BOXSCORE

RSEQ STANDINGS

SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca