MONTREAL – Victoria Iannotti of St. Laurent, Que., scored a game-high 21.5 points as McGill outlasted Laval 3-2 in a thrilling women's volleyball Homecoming Game at Love Competition Hall, Sunday. The set scores were 25-18, 25-17, 20-25, 23-25 and 15-12 in a battle that lasted two hours and 15 minutes.
 
The two teams combined for 113 kills, 110 assists and a mind-boggling 159 digs, in addition to 17 stuff blocks and 13 service aces.

The result improved McGill's record to 12-5 overall, including a perfect 8-0 mark at home. In league play, the Martlets are 9-4 and have moved into a first-place tie with Montreal (9-3) atop the eight-team RSEQ conference. It was a costly setback for Laval (8-6), which now sits in a four-way tie for the last two playoff spots.

"We got off to a great start and seemed in control with a two-set lead but Laval showed a lot of fight to win the next two," said McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau. "It was a strange game at some points because there was a lot of tipping at the net and not a lot of hitting. After the loss of control in the third set, we slowly made adjustments and regained control of the momentum in the fifth set. We passed well today, over 2.0 (out of 3) and I was happy with our ability to fight and finish the game."

Iannotti had a strong finish and collected 17 kills on 45 attempts with a lofty .267 kill percentage. The fifth-year software engineering senior added a pair of aces, 2.5 blocks, 13 digs and two assists.

Teammate Clara Poire also reached double-digit scoring with 15 points, on 13 kills and a pair of blocks. She added 18 digs to go along with a team-leading 2.24 passing ratio.

Other leading Martlets were Rachel Leduc (9.5 pts, 9 digs) and Charlene Robitaille (8.5 pts, 16 digs)..

Starting setter Audrey Trottier was credited with 30 assists in four sets and when she was subbed out, Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberte performed admirably with 14 assists in three sets.

Leading scorers for the Rouge et Or were Justine Raymond (20 pts), Eloise Ross-Tremblay (17), Maika Bourgeois-Daigle (14) and Alexandra Leroy-Audy (11).

"We're not yet playing at our peak but we have improved dramatically and are getting there," Beliveau noted. "We've performed really well in practice but haven't yet reached that level in some of our games. Once we put that all in place and develop the confidence to play like we practice, we will get to the level that we are expecting to be at."

Both teams return to the court on Jan. 19, with McGill at ETS for a non-conference game at 5:30 p.m. and UQAM at Laval (7 p.m.). McGill then makes the short trip downtown for a confrontation at UQAM (8-5) on Sunday (Jan. 21) at 1 p.m.

FACES IN THE CROWD: The volleyball alumni Homecoming, primarily organized by Marie-Christine Lapointe, a former McGill player who is now an assistant coach with the team. There was a turnout featuring many past members of the Martlets volleyball program from the last three decades... Spotted in attendance was McGill Sports Hall of Fame inductee and former national team player Wendy Whelan, who played from 1995 to 1998 and returned for another season in 2001-02...Others included Catherine Amyot (2012-2016), Genevieve Plante (2010-2014), Thara Dawoodjee (2014-2018), Jane Van Ryn (2017-2019), Catherine Vercheval (2018-2023), Emilie Matte de Grasse (2014-2019), Salome Deslauriers-Brouillard (2018-2022), Marie-Eve Dorion (2013-2017), Marie-Michelle Corrigan (1998-2000), Virginie Hebert (2010-2015), Amelie Trottier (2007-2011), Marie-Claude Ferland (1997-2000), Rebecca Gomez (2004-2008), Kaiva Mateus (2008-2012), Elizabeth Jamieson (1998-2003), Andreanne Tremblay (2017-2022), Marie-Andree Lessard (1997-2001), Marie-Eve Bergeron (1996-1998), Britta Weise (1993-1996) and Alyson Laberge (2019-2022)... Finally, members of the coaching or support staff included: Felix Dion (1996-2013), Maxime Lefebvre (2001-2006), Steven Chan (1999-2003) and Victoire Bunoko (2015-2018),
 
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SOURCE
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-983-7012 (cell.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca