Robert Smith

Robert Smith

The McGill Martlets (10-10) let lead after lead slip as they fell 3-0 (21-25, 20-25, 22-25) to the fifth ranked University of Laval Rouge-et-Or (17-3) on Saturday night at Love Competition Hall. The Martlets held early leads in each of the three sets but were unable to withstand the relentless Laval attack.

It was the final regular season game for the Martlets and final regular season home game in the five-year careers of power right side Amy Graham and middle Kelsey Irwin, who leaves McGill with an all-time team record in kill percentage.

The Martlets started extremely strong, leading the first set 14-10 as Geneviève Plante’s serve aced the Rouge-et-Or twice. However, Laval stormed back with a 15-7 run to close out the first set 25-21.

“We started off pretty strong but I think the nerves got the best of us,” said Irwin who was tied with a team leading 10 kills.

Despite losing the first set, the Martlets kept their composure and jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the second set. But again, they let the lead slip away. Laval’s strong front line overpowered the Martlets as Marie-Christine Mondor led the Rouge-et-Or on a 13-3 run that gave Laval a commanding 15-9 lead. Laval won the second set 25-20 and Mondor led the game with 16 kills.

The first point of the third set was incredible as great defence on both sides kept the rally alive before McGill won the point. An emphatic spike three points later by Emily Kyte, who also finished with 10 kills, gave the Martlets a 3-1 lead. They were able to extend the gap to 14-10 but again failed to hold on. Laval took their first lead of the set 16-15 and never gave it up. In fitting fashion, Mondor closed out the game with a powerful spike to give the Rouge-et-Or a 25-22 set and straight sets victory.

It was an emotional game for the team, Graham, and Irwin. Irwin has continually improved throughout her career to eventually become one of McGill’s better players in recent memory.

“She started from nowhere and really progressed through the whole thing,” said Martlets Head Coach Rachèle Béliveau. “She is a very good competitor, she loves competition.”

While Irwin and Graham’s last career home game did not go as planned, they have the upcoming playoffs to look forward to. With the win, Laval has earned a bye, while McGill plays the University of Montreal in a best of three semi-final. The winner of that match will play in the final against Laval. Because the CIS tournament will be hosted by the Rouge-et-Or, three teams from Quebec will qualify for Nationals. As a result, the loser of the Montreal-McGill clash will face last place Sherbrooke in a best of three competition to determine the last qualifier.

“Tonight wasn’t like we expected to be honest,” said Irwin. “Whenever you’re playing Laval you have to fight really hard if you want to win … We have to be really, really aggressive at the net. We’re playing Montreal next weekend. They’re a good hard hitting team and if we want to win we just have to hit a lot harder.”

Béliveau stressed that the team has already begun preparing for the playoffs.

“We’re going to be ready,” she said. “We worked on some things tonight in preparation for the playoffs. We asked the hitters to hit hard no matter what. We didn’t want to give any free balls and hit as hard as possible all the time and I think we did apply it today.”

As the playoffs begin next weekend, the Martlets hope to avenge their three regular season losses to Montreal and wrap up a berth in the CIS tournament. McGill plays at the University of Montreal on Friday night before returning home on Saturday at 6 p.m. If the series is tied one game apiece, a tie breaker will be held at Montreal on Sunday afternoon.