By Jim Hynes
The Volleyball Martlets captured their first ever CIS medal when they upset the Montreal Carabins to win bronze at the national championships in Hamilton, Ont. Sunday, March 4. The fifth-seeded Martlets came away with a 3-1 upset over Quebec champion and No. 3-seed UdeM at McMaster University’s Burridge Gymnasium. The set scores were 25-22, 13-25, 25-23 and 25-15.
The victory put an exclamation point on an improbable playoff run for McGill. Following a sub-par 5-10 regular season, the Martlets advanced to the national tournament by upsetting Laval, the CIS silver medal winners last year, in the Quebec conference semifinals. After being swept by Montreal in the best-of-three final, McGill knocked off No. 4 Saint Mary’s in five sets in their CIS championship opener to advance to the Final Four, where they lost 3-0 to top-seeded Alberta.
The Hockey Martlets also earned a medal at the CIS women’schampionships in Edmonton last weekend. It just wasn’t the colour they had counted on. Defending champion McGill defeated the top-seeded Laurier Golden Hawks 4-0 in the bronze medal contest Sunday. The Martlets collected a medal for the seventh straight year at the CIS tourney. The Martlets dropped a 1-0 decision to the third-seeded Calgary Dinos in their tournament opener against Calgary, who went on to win the tournament gold, defeating sixth-ranked UdeM 5-1 in the final.
McGill’s Charlène Puel also snared a couple of bronze medals at the CIS indoor track and field championships in Winnipeg last weekend. The math senior from Lyon, France, was third in the 1,000-metre run and anchored the bronze-winning 4×800 relay squad.
The Basketball Martlets will try to add to the medal haul at the 41st CIS women’s hoops championship in Calgary this weekend. The No.7-seeded Martlets take on No.2 UBC in the tournament opener Saturday. The eight-team competition concludes on Monday with the gold medal final at 9 p.m. ET.
With files from Earl Zukerman, McGill Athletics & Recreation