Martlets sink Sherbrooke, to meet Laval in playoff

By Earl Zukerman

MONTREAL – Junior Kelsey Irwin of Vancouver, B.C., and senior Jennifer Thomson of Rosemere, Que., combined to score 31 points as the McGill women’s volleyball team closed out the regular season with a 3-1 victory over Sherbrooke at Love Competition Hall, Sunday.

In a match that took an hour and 53 minutes to play, the set scores were 25-14, 15-25, 25-20 and 25-21.

Renee-Claude Chevarie led the last-place Vert & Or with 19 points.

Irwin, a 6-foot middle blocker, led the Martlets with 14 kills to go along with eight digs and three stuff blocks.

Thomson, a two-time All-Canadian power-hitter, contributed 12 kills, one service ace, a pair of assisted blocks and 26 digs.

Other Martlets who figured prominently in the scoring included sophomore Alexandra Sheppard of North Vancouver and freshman Kaiva Mateus, a native Montrealer. Sheppard registered eight kills, one ace and 25 digs, while Mateus, a 6-foot-1 middle blocker, had seven kills, 2.5 blocks and a pair of digs.

Amelie Trottier-Picard, a sophomore setter from Longueuil, Que., had a game-high 34 assists and 20 digs.

The third-place Martlets finished with a 13-8 record and ended up just two points behind Laval (14-7), who they will meet in a best-of-three Quebec semifinal series, tentatively slated to begin on Thursday in Quebec City. The teams are scheduled to play the return match at McGill on Saturday at 6 p.m. If a rubber match is needed, they will return to provincial capital on Sunday.

McGill split is season series with Laval, losing 3-0 and winning 3-1 in Quebec City. At home, the Martlets won 3-2 and lost 3-2.

The semifinal winner will advance to play the division–leading Montreal Carabins, who lost their final contest 3-2 at Laval last Saturday, to finish with a stellar 20-1 record.