MONTREAL – The combination punches of Elyssa Lajmi and Rachel Leduc paced McGill to a stunning 3-1 upset over the top-seeded Montreal Carabins as the Martlets drew first blood in the RSEQ best-of-three women’s volleyball semifinals, Friday, at the Centre CEPSUM.
After dropping an intense opening set 28-26, McGill roared back to win 25-18, 25-23 and 25-21.
The unranked Martlets are now in position to sweep the Carabins, currently ranked No. 6 in the nation, with a victory in Game 2 of the series on Saturday (Feb. 22) in a 6 p.m. tipoff at Love Competition Hall. Should a rubber match be needed, it is slated for a Sunday matinee (Feb. 23, at 2 p.m.) back at U de M.
Should the Martlets pull it off, it would be the second time in three years that McGill has beaten U de M in post-season play after dropping the first 10 playoff series match-ups dating back to 1996.
The result was McGill’s second straight win over the omnipotent Carabins in the past week after dropping the first two meetings last fall. In fact, it was McGill’s 10th victory in the last 11 games.
“It was a spectacular game and a great performance by our group, who played very well and were really focused on the task at hand,” said retiring McGill head coach Rachele Beliveau, who was honoured by the Carabins in a classy pre-game ceremony to recognize her 34 years and 700+ wins behind the McGill bench.
“I was a bit worried how we would react after losing the first set but we remained focused and intense. We bounced back strong, played united and you can feel that on the bench when it is clicking like that. Everybody was on the same wavelength. This effort was similar to our win in Sherbrooke (on Jan. 10) and those were easily our best two performances this season.”
The cross-town rivals combined to produce 101 kills, 113 digs, 98 assists, 17 service aces and 15 stuff blocks in a spectacular four-set affair took an hour and 55 minutes to play. Arguably the most crucial difference between the teams was the hitting efficiency. McGill posted a lofty 22.3 per cent, with 46 kills and only 17 errors on 130 attempts. The Carabins functioned at just 16.7 per cent efficiency, with 55 kills and a whopping 31 errors on 144 attempted kills.
Lajmi posted a game-high 17 points on the strength of 15 kills and a pair of aces. She had a stellar 27.8 per cent efficiency to go along with a dozen digs.
Leduc collected 14 points, with 11 kills, a pair of aces and a block, along with nine digs.
Defensively, McGill setter Selima Guidaracollected 37 assists, in addition to 10 digs, three kills, two aces, 1.5 blocks.
Four members of the Carabins reached double figures in scoring. Milica Djordjevic (15 pts), Florence Cloutier (14.5), Florence Lapointe (13) and Julia Lanthier (12).
You must be logged in to post a comment Login