CALGARY – Co-captains Charlene Robitaille scored 24 points and Victoria Iannotti added 22 as the fifth-seeded McGill Martlets rallied from an opening set loss and cruised to a 3-1 victory over No. 4 Toronto in a quarter-final game in the U SPORTS women's volleyball championship, Friday, from the Jack Simpson Gym. The set scores were 21-25, 25-23, 25-16 and 25-19.
 
It was a school record fifth consecutive post-season victory for McGill, the RSEQ conference champions, who advance to a Saturday (at 9 p.m. EDT) semifinal dance against top-seeded Trinity Western, the Canada West champs from Langley, B.C., who posted a 15-1 record in regular-season play and are 7-1 in the playoffs after winning their opening round matchup 3-1 over host Calgary.

McGill's result also avenged a heart-breaking loss to Toronto in the opening round of the 2016 tournament. In that one, the Martlets led 1-0 and 2-1 before succumbing 3-2.

After a slow start, a young McGill squad found its rhythm early in the second set, battling for a two-point margin of victory before powering past the Varsity Blues, who will now face off against host Calgary in a consolation round semifinal on Saturday at 4 p.m. (EDT). After hitting just 11.5 per cent efficiency in the opening set, the Martlets finished the match hitting 29.7 overall, while limiting the Varsity Blues to just a 23.3 clip. McGill committed just 13 hitting errors on 153 attempted kills.

"It was amazing... the atmosphere on the court was so much fun... we were more excited than nervous today," said Robitaille, a six-foot middle blocker from St. Jean sur Richelieu, Que., who was named as McGill's player of the game. She hit an impressive 39.1 per cent success rate en route to 19 kills with just one error. The nutritional science senior added seven digs, six assisted stuff blocks and a pair of aces.

"It was a good team effort. Victoria (Iannotti) and I are always really intensive and that's (the team's) first strength but every girl contributed today. Clara Poire was strong on the right side and Audrey Trottier, our setter, was really good at creating one-on one situations. Against tall teams like Toronto, it is really important to get those one-on-ones."

Iannotti, a software engineering junior from St. Laurent, Que., racked up 19 kills and was successful on 37.2 per cent of her attempts, while adding six assisted blocks, five digs and two aces.

Two other members of the Martlets reached double digits in scoring, with Poire, a junior from Blainville, Que., tallying 12.5 points and Melanie Dormann of Ottawa adding 11.

Trottier, an education junior from Longueuil, Que., registered a career-best 49 digs with seven digs, an ace and three assisted blocks. Senior Catherine Vercheval, the starting libero from Ste. Julie, Que., contributed a season-high 17 digs and a pair of service aces.

Julia Murmann led Toronto's attack, finishing with 21 kills to go with 14 digs in a losing cause, while teammate Hayley Goodwin also recorded a double-double with 47 assists and 13 digs. Jenna Woock, who scored 17.5 points, was named as the Blues player of the game.

This is McGill's fourth trip to the Nationals and only the second time that they won their opening game. In their previous appearances at the Final Eight championship, McGill had a combined 3-5 record at the tourney after finishing tied for seventh (0-2) at Brandon, Man., in 2016, third (2-1) at Hamilton, Ont., in 2012 and sixth (1-2) at Edmonton, Alta., in 1997.

All games in the tournament are streamed live. The English stream is available for free worldwide on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports App, while the French digital coverage is being carried on USPORTS.LIVE.

Boxscore (XML)

Schedule & Results

Livestream
 
Mikasa Top Performers Presented by Team Nike
Toronto Blues: #5 Jenna Woock
McGill Martlets: #16 Charlene Robitaille

SOURCE:
Tim Prahl (Calgary) & Earl Zukerman (McGill)