MONTREAL – Milica Djordjevic scored a game-high 24 points to lead the No. 6 ranked Montreal Carabins in a heart-thumping 3-2 victory over McGill in a women’s volleyball playoff thriller before close to 500 spectators at Love Competition Hall, Saturday.
The Carabins, who finished atop the standings with a 19-2 record, staved off elimination and evened this RSEQ best-of-three semifinal series at 1-1, in the aftermath of McGill’s 3-1 upset victory in the opener of Friday. Both teams have about 18 hours to prepare for what promises to be a nail-biting rubber match, slated for 2 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 23) at U de M’s Centre CEPSUM.
In a five-set marathon that lasted two hours and 31 minutes, the Carabins rallied from a 28-26 setback in the first set, to win the contest 25-20, 28-26, 20-25 and 15-9.
“It was a great game and we played very well but had a bad start in the fifth set and in a 15-point set, a bad start is difficult to overcome,” said McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau. “They’re the No. 1 team in our league and we stayed with them in every set. We showed a lot of fight over the first two games in this series. We’re present, focused and working hard, so we just need to stay in this mindset for Sunday.”
Martlets setter Selima Guidara, a sophomore, was credited with a career-high 47 assists, surpassing her previous best of 45 in a five-set matchup with Laval last month.
McGill posted season highs in kills (57), digs (79) and assists (55) but to no avail as the Carabins bettered those numbers with 63, 84 and 60, respectively. The visitors also had a slight edge in aces (8-6), while McGill had a minute advantage in stuff blocks (12-10).
The biggest difference between the teams over the two games has been the kill efficiency. In the series opener, McGill had the upper-hand with a 22.3 per cent success rate compared to Montreal, which was at 16.7. In Saturday’s meeting, the Carabins operated at 17.2 per cent efficiency, compared to McGill’s 13.7.
The winner of Game 3 will advance to next week’s league championship series against the other semifinal between third-place Laval (13-8) and second-seeded Sherbrooke (17-4), a matchup that is also deadlocked at 1-1.
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