Sam Reynolds

The Martlets came back down to earth this past Friday night. Two weeks removed from a bronze medal finish at the Martlet Invitational where they ended Montreal’s 23-game winning streak, McGill suffered a crushing 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-15) defeat against the Carabins in their regular season opener.

Head Coach Rachele Beliveau was confident before the game.

“We are feeling confident but we also know the conference will be challenging,” she said. “Any team could beat the other depending on how they play. We need to play the same way we have been in each pre-season game, focus on each point, and the task at hand.”

The Martlets started strong in the first set. They attacked effectively and backed it up with great support defensively against Montreal’s blocking and power hitting. They remained competitive with Montreal for most of the first set, but lost 25-19.

Neither team played well in the second set. Montreal started out slowly, which allowed McGill to hold a lead until the middle of the set, when the Carabins began their comeback. There were many service and hitting errors; balls went long or just wide of the court lines. This gave both teams equal opportunity to take advantage of the other’s mistakes. Ultimately, the Carabins came out on top 25-22.

The final set was the worst for McGill. They worked hard to set up their attack, but nothing could get by Montreal’s blocking wall and their defence failed to keep rallies going. When McGill tried to counteract Montreal’s defence, balls were sent just wide time and again. McGill lost the set 15-25.

“I think we need to work on our defence,” said power hitter Kristina Pavlovic. “We were flailing our arms and legs and it was not university level.”

Pavlovic was one of a few players who had a consistent game. Throughout the match she played well both offensively and defensively.

“I don’t think we played to our potential,” Pavlovic said. “There were certain people at certain times that played well, but for our team to stand out and win we all need to be on the same track at the same time. I don’t know why but we weren’t there mentally and we need to be more of a team. That will take us to the level that we know we can play at.”

Coach Beliveau was not happy about the outcome either. “I feel we didn’t show up like we did the other games. We had so much preparation and we were getting momentum but then we had a break after our last pre-season game and today it seemed like it took us a while to get into it and build that same momentum,” Beliveau said. “I expected more fight from the team. I hope we will be able to bring more fight to the game tomorrow against Laval.”

The Martlets bounced back on Saturday night by defeating Laval 3-1 (25-22, 15-25, 25-17, 25-22). They will look to continue their success against Laval on Friday Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at Love Competition Hall.