MONTREAL – Sabrina Mayer scored a game-high 16 points as the third-seeded UQAM Citadins surprised No.2 McGill 3-2 in an RSEQ women's volleyball best-of-three semifinal opener at Love Competition Hall, Friday.

The visitors dropped the first set 25-22 but battled back to win 25-22, 25-18, 14-25 and 15-7.

UQAM, which lost their regular season series 2-0 to McGill, could eliminate the Martlets from the gold medal round with a win at home on Saturday in a 7 p.m. start at the Centre Sportif.

Should McGill even the series on the road, they would return home for a deciding match on Sunday at 3 p.m. In either case, the loser of this series would play for bronze, a new format implemented by the league to make up for games lost due to the pandemic.

The Citadins had the edge in kills (48-44) and aces (13-7), while McGill led in stuff blocks (5-3) and digs (77-53).  Both teams registered 41 assists.

"They played really well and I think that we were a bit nervous," said McGill bench boss Rachele Beliveau. "We were inconsistent, started well in some sets but fell behind by 10 points in others. We came back twice but were just a little too late. "We have to focus on just playing our game instead of trying to play a perfect game."

Mayer was one of five UQAM teammates to reach double-digits in scoring. She was joined by Sarah-Jade Goulet (13 pts), Laura Cote-Colin (11),  Erlande Dacilia (10) and Gabrielle Archambault (10).

McGill only had two players in double-digits. Sophomore power-hitter Victoria Iannotti of St. Laurent, Que., paced the squad with 14 points on the strength of 11 kills, a pair of service aces and one stuff block. She added 10 digs and seven assists.

Teammate Clara Poire, a kinesiology junior from Blainville, Que., tallied 10 points, registering six kills, three aces and a block, in addition to five digs and one assist.

The Martlets have been afflicted with a rash of injuries to contend with.

Ramou Taal, a 6-foot-1 junior from Bedford, N.H., started at middle blocker, filling in for injured senior Meaghan Smith. But Taal was also shaken up and had to be replaced by Alyson Laberge, a 5-foot-9 junior from Mercier, Que. She ended up with eight points on five kills and three blocks, to go along with a half-dozen digs.

Other leading scorers for McGill included senior Charlene Robitaille (9 pts) of St. Jean, Que., and Melanie Dormann (7), a science junior from Ottawa.


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RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

 

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
McGill Athletics & Recreation
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
514-398-7012