Articles by Kailan Leung

Staring up at the scoreboard in McGill’s Love Competition Hall, the visiting team watched the seconds tick down to zero before they began to celebrate their 74-68 exhibition basketball win over the Redmen volleyball team last Tuesday. The visitors are used to keeping an eye on the clock, though, because the sound of the buzzer isn’t very helpful.

While the average women’s soccer fan at McGill might point to the team’s impressive conference record and harvest of major year-end awards as signs of a successful 2009-10 campaign, the Martlet players and coaching staff aren’t nearly satisfied with the season’s results.

For Head Coach Marc Mounicot and the McGill women’s soccer team, there’s nothing surprising about being in two provincial finals in the same academic year. In early November, the team’s hopes of a berth at Nationals were shattered when the Martlets lost a 2-1 decision against the top-ranked Montreal Carabins in the conference championship game.

Fresh off of winning their second Queen’s Cup in three years, the McGill men’s hockey team is primed and ready to challenge for a National Championship. The OUA East champions received a number-two seed in the six-team tournament last week, and will butt heads against the Manitoba Bisons and the Saint Mary’s Huskies in pool play.

Preview: The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks find themselves in the toughest of the four regions and will have to rely on their experience and leadership if they want to make it to the Final Four for the second time in three years. Headlined by Big East finalist Georgetown and second-seeded Ohio State, the Midwest promises to provide some serious excitement in the early rounds.

Preview: The West is potentially the easiest region to predict in the entire tournament, but could just as well prove the most surprising. Kansas State and Syracuse seem locked on a collision course and will likely meet up in the Elite Eight, but the West also features a number of strong upset possibilities.

Preview: Mike Krzyzewski’s team finds itself with the top seed in the South after a tremendous team effort propelled Duke to its 18th ACC title this past weekend. The Blue Devils have shown that they can be absolutely dominant at times, but they lack a go-to player in the post.

Preview: Top-seeded Kentucky and freshman sensation John Wall cast a long shadow over the East bracket, though they’ll need to play better than they did against Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament Final in order to advance. West Virginia, the No. 2 seed, has the most momentum after winning the Big East title in dramatic fashion over the weekend.

If there is one thing the McGill men’s basketball team made clear to spectators and scouts this year, it’s that the Redmen can play with anyone in Quebec. Stacked with young talent, the future of McGill’s men’s basketball program appears to be in good hands, and if Head Coach Craig Norman can figure out a way to get his team to perform with some consistency, the Redmen could be a force to be reckoned with as early as next season.

With Saturday’s loss to the Laval Rouge et Or in the QSSF championship game, the McGill women’s basketball team concluded a rollercoaster ride of a season. While a 13-15 overall record – McGill went 5-4 in non-conference play and finished 8-11 in Quebec competition – cannot be considered cause for celebration, the Martlets closed out the season competitively, and appear to have the pieces in place to become a force in the near future.

For the first three months of the season, the McGill women’s volleyball team looked virtually unstoppable. With a pair of five-game winning streaks, steady appearances in the CIS Top-10, and depth at every position, a deep run at Nationals seemed inevitable.

On a night dedicated to the departing seniors of the Redmen basketball team, McGill’s talented youth movement almost stole the show. Freshman point guard Olivier Bouchard put up 16 points and five assists to lead the Redmen to an impressive 93-63 drubbing of first-placed UQAM on Saturday night at Love Competition Hall.

What do Shakespeare and the McGill women’s basketball team have in common? In most cases, not very much. But at this point in the year, “all’s well that ends well” is becoming an increasingly useful descriptor for the way the Martlets’ season has progressed.

A straight-set loss to the visiting Montreal Carabins wasn’t the result the McGill men’s volleyball team had hoped for, but for the team and the fans, Friday night’s match was about far more than a small shift in the standings. It was about sacrifice, determination, growth, and an increasingly optimistic future.

Less than two weeks ago, the McGill women’s basketball team was riding high after upsetting sixth-ranked Laval on their home floor. Fast forward to Friday night, and the post-game atmosphere at Love Competition Hall was anything but celebratory. The Martlets failed to reach double figures in scoring in three out of four quarters, and connected on an abysmal 23 per cent of their field goal attempts as they were picked apart by the visiting Rouge et Or, 55-37.

Going into Sunday afternoon’s match-up against the visiting Sherbrooke Vert et Or, Head Coach Rachel Beliveau stressed the importance of establishing a presence at the middle of the net as early as possible. Clearly, her players were listening. Sophomore middle Kaiva Mateus opened up the scoring in the first set with a thunderous solo block, and the McGill women’s volleyball team shut down the Sherbrooke offence en route to a convincing straight-set victory at Love Competition Hall.