SEMIFINAL #2 CIS championship: No. 3 Laval reaches final in front of home crowd

In Progress - 4th	1	2	3	4	5	Final
Trinity Western ()	25	25	26	19		1
Laval ()	27	19	28	25		3

Trinity Western	Laval
K: Alicia Perrin - 12 B: Alicia Perrin - 5 D: Lauren O'Reilly - 17 SA: 2 Players (#7, #10 - 2)	K: Marie-Ch. Mondor - 20 B: Donna Ouellet - 3 D: Melanie Savoie - 23 SA: Sophie Dallaire - 3

TEAM STATISTICS	Trinity Western	Laval
Hitting %	.136	.178
Blocks	9.0	6.5
Digs	49	96
Aces	7	4

full stats

Courtesy: Laval sports info / Photo credit Yan Dublet
  
QUEBEC CITY (CIS) – Third-seeded University Laval Rouge et Or qualified for the CIS women’s volleyball championship final after winning a thrilling semifinal against the No. 2 Trinity Western Spartans in four sets of 27-25, 19-25, 28-26 and 25-19 before 933 fans gathered at Laval’s PEPS Stadium, Saturday evening.
 
Championship website (live webcasts): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball
 
The tournament host and Quebec champion Rouge et Or will play the championship final Sunday at 4:30 p.m. against the first-seeded and reigning three-time CIS champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
 
The game will be broadcasted live on www.rougeetor.tv and also on the radio, on both Québec 800 (www.quebec800.com) and CHYZ 94,3 FM (www.chyz.ca).
 
The only time Laval won the national title was precisely against UBC by a score of 3-1 in 2006 in Calgary. The Rouge et Or will also try to avenge two losses suffered against the T-Birds in the last two CIS championships semifinals, both times in three straight sets.
 
The last time Laval reached the championship final was in 2007, losing in four sets to the University of Alberta Pandas.
 
The Spartans will play the Pandas in the bronze-medal game Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
It was a hard-fought first set that saw the Rouge et Or take a 1-0 lead by a score of 27-25. At 23-23, Mélanie Savoie dove to save what appeared to be a sure point for the Canada West finalists, eventually allowing Laval to take a 24-23 lead. The crowd favourites then completed the job a couple of plays later.
 
In the second set, the Spartans virtually led from start to finish, including leads of 8-5 and 16-12 on both technical timeouts. TWU took that set 25-19 and tied up the game.
 
Despite of 12-7, 19-14 and 21-17 leads in the third set, the Rouge et Or found itself backed against the wall as the Spartans scored no less than seven unanswered points to take a 24-21 priority. Laval then saved a total of five set points to win a second one and retake the lead 2-1.
 
The Rouge et Or began the fourth strongly taking a 4-0 lead. As they did before, the Spartans fought through and were able to take a 10-9 lead. Exchanging points in turn, both teams offered a spectacular show to the fans, with plenty of impressive attacks, blocks and digs.
 
At 17-17, it is ultimately the Laval players who managed to make a difference, scoring a few straight points en route to a 25-19 victory.
 
“We always believed in ourselves,” said delighted Laval’s head coach Alain Pelletier. “I said yesterday we had to live the moment. We did the game plan and eyes were convinced. We are in a bubble right now, we can only play better and better and let ourselves go. There is no doubt, we are here to win the championship.”
 
“I told my girls in the locker room that it was going to be a fight tonight. That we were going to have to give everything that we had emotionally and physically,” commented Spartans’ coach Ryan Hofer. “I think both teams fought very hard out there and unfortunately, we didn’t win it tonight. That’s it.”
 
Setter Sarah Létourneau-Lévesque was named game’s MVP for the Rouge et Or. In addition to her 50 assists, the 5-foot-6 athlete recovered 20 balls. For the Spartans, Nicole Bazin received the player of the game honour. The Winnipeg-native managed to get six kills, two aces and two blocks for a total of 10 points.
 
STAT LEADERS
 
Laval
Kills: Marie-Christine Mondor (20), Mélanie Savoie (13), Catherine Laurin (10)
Points: Marie-Christine Mondor (21), Mélanie Savoie (14.5)
Blocks: Donna Ouellet (2)
Digs: Mélanie Savoie (23), Sarah Létourneau-Lévesque (20)
Service aces: Sophie Dallaire (3)
Assists: Sarah Létourneau-Lévesque (50)
 
Player of the match: Sarah Létourneau-Lévesque
 
Trinity Western
Kills: Alicia Perrin (12), Kara-Jansen Van Doorn (9)
Points: Alicia Perrin (14.5), Kara-Jansen Van Doorn (10.5)
Blocks: Alicia Perrin (2.5)
Digs: Lauren O’Reilly (17)
Service aces: Nicole Bazin, Lauren O’Reilly (2)
Assists: Lauren O’Reilly (32)
 
Player of the match: Nicole Bazin
 
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS
 
NOTE:  Live webcast of all matches at http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball
 
Friday, March 4
 
Quarter-final #1: UBC 3, Sherbrooke 1 (25-13, 25-18, 23-25, 25-12)
Quarter-final #2: Alberta 3, Montreal 1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22)
Quarter-final #3: Trinity Western 3, Western Ontario 2 (25-23, 19-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-8)
Quarter-final #4: Laval 3, UNB 1 (27-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17)
 
Saturday, March 5
 
Consolation #1: Montreal 3, Sherbrooke 0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-17)
Consolation #2: Western Ontario 3, UNB 0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22)
Semifinal #1: UBC 3, Alberta 0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-22)
Semifinal #2: Laval 3, Trinity Western 1 (27-25, 19-25, 28-26, 25-19)
 
Sunday, March 6
 
11:00 5th place: Montreal vs. Western Ontario
13:00 Bronze medal: Alberta vs. Trinity Western
16:30 Championship final: UBC vs. Laval
  
-CIS-