MONTREAL – Victoria Iannotti of St. Laurent, Que., scored a personal-best 25 points as the McGill University women's volleyball team cruised to a crucial 3-1 conquest over division-leading UQAM at the Centre Sportif, Saturday. The set scores were 25-10, 26-28, 25-23 and 35-21.

It marked the resumption of play after a three-month hiatus and the result moved McGill into a first-place tie with UQAM and Sherbrooke. Each team is now 8-3 with one contest remaining before playoffs in a season that was shortened by six games due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"We played quite well considering it was our first game after a long break," said McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau. "We were very consistent and I was pleased with that. We've spent significant time working on varying our offence so that it wouldn't be as predictable. We had a lot of technical work to do while being limited with the COVID restrictions. We also worked a lot on service receive. It's paid off so far, so hopefully we will continue to improve there."

Iannotti, a 5-foot-9 power-hitter, was an unstoppable force on offence, racking up 22 kills and three stuff blocks. But the 22-year-old software engineering junior also added 10 digs and one assist on the defensive side of the ledger and passed for a solid 2.22 (out of 3).

"She played a good offensive game and has improved a lot. She used to be just a strong power-hitter but now she has been developing (on-court awareness). It's her third year at McGill but we lost last season to the pandemic so this is really her first year of significant time on the court."

Part of McGill's deadly one-two punch combination, Iannotti was aided and abetted by veteran Charlene Robitaille, a six-foot middle blocker from St. Jean, Que., who contributed 18.5 points. The nutritional science senior tallied 15 kills, two service aces, 1.5 blocks, a dozen digs and a pair of assists.

Teammate Clara Poire, a kinesiology junior from Blainville, Que., was next with nine points, on the strength of seven kills and two aces. She also contributed 10 digs.

In all, five Martlets reached double digits in digs, including setter Audrey Trottier, a kinesiology junior from Longueuil, Que., and Catherine Vercheval, a senior from Ste. Julie, Que.

Trottier  also racked up a game-high 39 assists, just two shy of her season best tally, achieved against Laval on Nov. 28.

For UQAM, three players paced the team in scoring, led by 6-foot-1 veteran Gabrielle Archambault of St. Hubert, Que., who had 17.5 points. She was followed by Sabrina Mayer (16) and Laura Cote-Colin (11), both natives of Longueuil, Que.

The Martlets had a 55-47 edge in kills, a 7-3 margin in blocks and a 68-63 advantage in digs. Both teams were tied in aces with five apiece.

One casualty from the game was McGill senior Meaghan Smith, a six-foot middle-blocker from Vancouver, B.C., who suffered a lower-body injury just two points before the final set was concluded. Her status will be revaluated later in the week.

McGill will attempt to extend their win streak to four when they conclude the regular season by hosting Ottawa (1-9) at Love Competition Hall on Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m.

A final three-way tie atop the RSEQ standings is a distinct possibility as UQAM plays at Montreal (5-6) the same night, while Sherbrooke plays at UQTR (1-10). The first tie-breaker is total points, where all three teams are tied. The next criteria is overall winning percentage, where each team is currently still tied, followed by fewest losses (tied), then head-to-head records (tied), then a head-to-head mini-standings (tied), then the sixth tie-breaker would be another head-to-head comparison in sets won divided by sets lost, which McGill currently has a slight lead by fractions. A seventh tie-breaker would be the ratio of total points scored between the three teams, looking at points for, divided by points allowed. The eighth criteria would be total sets won divided by total sets lost. McGill currently has a 27-16 record in total sets played, while UQAM is 26-15 and Sherbrooke is 27-15.

The top four teams in the six-team RSEQ conference will vie for the best-of-three league championship but due to the truncated season, the league has also implemented a consolation round with a bronze medal game for the fifth and sixth-place teams to confront the losers of the semifinal round.

BOXSCORE

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
TEL: 514-398-7012
EMAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca