MONTREAL -- A school record three members of the McGill University women's volleyball squad have been voted first-team all-stars and Martlets bench boss Rachele Beliveau has earned coach-of-the-year honours, in balloting conducted by the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec.

McGill teammates Yasmeen Dawoodjee of Ottawa, Catherine Amyot of Montreal, and Myriam Robitaille of Terrebonne, Que., all merited a berth on the RSEQ first team. They were joined by Sarah Gosselin and Marie-Alex Bélanger of the Montreal Carabins in addition to Sarah-Jeanne Meunier-Bédard and Joanie Whittom of the Sherbrooke Vert & Or.

Bélanger was named player of the year, while Meunier-Bédard was voted rookie of the year and Whittom took home two awards, winning libéro-of-the-year honours as well as the league's award for leadership and citizenship.

The RSEQ playoffs begin this weekend when second-place McGill (15-7) opens a best-of-three semifinal series against third-place Sherbrooke (15-7) on Friday (Feb. 19) at Love Competition Hall. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. In the other semi on Friday, fourth-place Laval (10-12) travels to meet the division-leading Montreal Carabins (17-5).

Beliveau, a native of Sherbrooke who competed for Canada at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, wins the conference coaching honours for the first time in 14 years and the fifth time overall, having previously won in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2002. Now in her 25th season at McGill, she owns a career record of 554-486-2 in 1,042 contests overall, heading into the playoffs. She guided the current edition the Martlets to 15 victories, one shy of  the highest regular season win total in team history. The Martlets enter post-season play with a 30-11 mark overall and need six more victories to surpass the team record set in 2006-07 when they went 35-18.

Dawoodjee, a fifth-year setter who stands 5-foot-8, was second in the Quebec conference and fifth in the nation with 9.56 assists per set over 21 matches. A measure of consistency, the 22-year-old nutritional science senior played in 82 of McGill's 85 sets and registered a .293 hitting percentage. The Martlets team captain ranked seventh and 11th, respectively, among RSEQ leaders in digs (3.02) and aces (0.33) per set. She also averaged 0.43 kills and 0.18 blocks per set.

Amyot, a 5-foot-10 power-hitter who saw action in a team-high 85 sets over 22 matches, led the league with 0.54 sevice aces per set. The 22-year-old materials engineering senior ranked third among RSEQ leaders in points (3.89 per set), third in kills (3.14), sixth in digs (3.06) and 11th in hitting percentage (.248). She also averaged 0.29 blocks per set.

Robitaille, a six-foot middle-blocker, topped the Quebec conference and was third among CIS leaders with 29 solo stuff blocks. A 21-year-old arts sophomore majoring in translation, she was seventh among RSEQ leaders in hitting percentage (.284), eighth in points (2.98), ninth in total blocks (0.70) and 10th in kills-per-set (2.23). In 84 sets she ranked third on the Martlets in scoring with 3.0 points per set and contributed 23 aces.


2015-16 RSEQ WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL ALL-STARS & MAJOR AWARDS

FIRST TEAM
Yasmeen Dawoodjee                  McGill                Setter
Myriam Robitaille                       McGill                Middle Blocker
Sarah Gosselin                          Montréal             Middle Blocker
Catherine Amyot                        McGill               Power Hitter
Marie-Alex Bélanger                   Montréal             Power Hitter
Sarah-Jeanne Meunier-Bédard     Sherbrooke         Technique
Joanie Whittom                          Sherbrooke         Libéro
 
SECOND TEAM
Kim Robitaille                              Sherbrooke       Setter
Alyssa Fields-Bouchard               Laval                 Middle Blocker
Alexane Joly                               Montréal            Middle Blocker
Alice Cloutier                              Laval                 Power Hitter
Vicky Savard                              Montréal            Power Hitter
Émilie Germain-Russell               UQAM               Technique
Stéphanie Lojen                          Montréal            Libéro
 
MAJOR AWARDS
Marie-Alex Bélanger                   Montréal            Player of the Year
Sarah-Jeanne Meunier-Bédard     Sherbrooke        Rookie of the Year
Joanie Whittom                          Sherbrooke        Libéro of the Year
Rachèle Béliveau                     McGill              Coach of the Year
Joanie Whittom                          Sherbrooke        Leadership & Citizenship


SOURCE:
 
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
MOBILE SITE: http://mcgillathletics.ca/mobile/index.aspx
WEBSITE: www.mcgillathletics.ca
TWITTER: @EarlZukerman
E-MAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca

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