MONTREAL – Florence Lapointe led all scorers with 15 points, including 13 kills, as the No.6 ranked Montreal Carabins swept visiting McGill 25-17, 25-20 and 26-24 on Sunday to win the RSEQ best-of-three semifinal series 2-1.
 
The top-seeded Carabins (19-2) advance to the league championship series next weekend against third-seeded Laval (13-8), which upset Sherbrooke (17-4) in three games.

Senior Rachel Leduc paced the Martlets with 13 points, while teammates Emilia Grigorova and Elyssa Lajmi added 12.5 and 10.5 points respectively.

U de M had the edge in all of the key statistical categories, including Kills (44-37), aces (5-4), stuff blocks (11-5), digs (39-34) and assists (42-33). But the biggest difference was that the Carabins had a lopsided kill efficiency advantage of 31.3 per cent with only 13 errors on 99 kill attempts. McGill countered with a 13.9 per cent efficiency, making 22 errors on 108 attempts.

It was also the final game for three Martlets graduating seniors, namely co-captains Erin Keating, Rachel Leduc and Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberte.

"Montreal played very well today and there wasn't much we could do to stop them," said McGill bench boss Rachèle Béliveau, who is retiring after a 34 year coaching career (33 seasons) with a 734-679-2 record in 1,315 games overall. It's the longest coaching career in McGill sporting history..

"Our group has shown much improvement over the year and played over their heads. Nobody expected us to make the playoffs and we not only qualified but beat the top-seeded team in the first game of this series and were very close to winning Game 2. The group has worked hard to get to that level. We didn't know what to expect at the beginning of the season but I was very pleased with our performance, the group attitude and energy.."

Despite a very young roster that included a dozen freshmen, six sophomores, three juniors and three seniors, the Martlets finished with a very respectable 16-12 record overall, including a 13-8 mark in regular season play.

"I really felt like they were playing for me as well and that produced a team unity that I don't think I have seen in my 34 years here," Béliveau said. "Aside from a burning desire to do well for themselves, they also wanted to win for me as well. Their motivation went way beyond my expectations and I couldn't ask for more.

"I have had seven cycles of athletes during my years here and every five-year cycle went really fast. Each group was never the same. The challenges were different and so was each season. The game has changed a lot during my time and I've seen quite an evolution.

"The speed, skill and height of the players has improved significantly. And so have the generations of players, so I had to adapt my coaching style with each group. It was very progressive and there is nothing that I did as a coach in my early days that I am doing now. It was easier for me to adapt to them, than to expect them to adapt to me. Today we face a generation that ask questions, they want to understand the different perspectives of the game. And I found that interesting and refreshing.

"We had a team meeting after the game in the dressing room and It was quite emotional. I've had a good long run here and I can't thank everyone enough at McGill for all the support over the years, especially for all my assistant coaches, some who were with me for many years. It was a dream for me to work a lifetime in sports. Playing and coaching volleyball has been my life and I was very comfortable with that."
 
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Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
CELL: 514-983-7012
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca