KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Saint Mary's College Volleyball took down Kalamazoo College, 3-2, in their MIAA opening match on Saturday. The Belles improve to 10-7 (1-0 MIAA) on the year while the Hornets fall to 4-12 (0-1 MIAA) as Saint Mary's completes the season sweep.
Early in the first set both teams traded points back and forth off one another, neither team getting out to any sort of multi-point lead. As they reached the midway point in the set, Kalamazoo would used a strong 7-0 run to get out to a seven point lead. Saint Mary's couldn't find their footing late as the Hornets got out to as much as a ten point lead and finished the first set with a 25-15 win and take a 1-0 lead. While only tallying seven kills in the first set, senior Caroline Carens (Naperville, IL) led the team with a pair while junior Giuliana Graczuk added four assists to lead the team in the set.
Early in the second set told the same story as the first as the two teams bounced points off one another. The Belles then used a 5-1 run to get out to a four point lead and forced the Hornets into a timeout. Kalamazoo bounced right back into the match as the teams went back to trading points back and forth and taking the match past the 25 point threshold. As the Hornets looked to close out the match, the Belles ripped off three straight points to take the second set, 26-24, and tie the match at one. Freshman Bridget O'Connell (Tinley Park, IL) led the team with five kills in the set to jump to six while Carens added four to join her at six on the match. Graczyk jumped to 12 assists while sophomores Molly Boyle (Palos Heights, IL) and Lexi Szymanski (Walker, MI) added double digit digs in the set to jump up to 18 and 14 respectively.
The third set continued as the rest of the match did, both teams trading points back and forth with no momentum able to be run. Saint Mary's then used a 7-1 run to get out to a strong lead, forcing the Hornets into a timeout early. Kalamazoo got right back into the fight with a 10-0 run of their own to take a six point lead and never look back, taking the third set 25-18 and taking a 2-1 lead. Carens led the team with an incredible seven kills in the set alone as she jumped into double figures for the 16th time this season with 13 kills after three sets. Graczyk jumped to an impressive 20 assists while Boyle added seven digs to improve to 25 on the match.
Saint Mary's found momentum in the fourth set as they got out to an early four point lead. After getting ahead, the Belles used a strong 7-2 run to extend their lead even further midway through the set. The Hornets would bounce back with a 10-2 run of their own to the tie match late at 19 a piece. Saint Mary's would hold strong through the end, finishing on a 6-1 run to take the fourth set, 25-20, and knot the match at two and send it to a fifth set tiebreaker. Sophomore Shannon Rudge (Granger, IN) and O'Connell added four and three kills each to lead the team in the set and join Carens in double figures. Szymanski would add seven digs in the set to jump to 25 on the day, blowing her previous career high out of the water.
The Belles got things going fast in the fifth set, scoring the first four points and never looking back. Saint Mary's saw their lead grow as high as six, and never drop below three points throughout the remainder as they took a dominating 15-10 win in the final set, securing a 3-2 win for their first MIAA win of the season.
Carens led the team offensively with 17 kills on the afternoon. This was her 16th match reaching double figures while being 11th with at least 15 kills. O'Connell followed with a career high 14 kills on the day, her fifth time this season reaching double-digits, while Rudge joined the two with 13 kills of her own. That was Rudge's sixth overall and fourth straight double-digit kill match.
Graczyk finished with a season high 31 assists on the day, reaching double digits in every match and totalling 20 or more in nine. Senior Abby Reese (Elkhart, IN) added 15 assists, her 15th match in double figures this year.
Defensively, Boyle led the team with a career high 30 digs on the afternoon. In her first season with the team, the sophomore has tallied 16 matches with double-digit digs and eight with 20 or more. Szymanski added a career high 26 digs on the day as well, this was her third time this season surpassing double figures. Rudge joined them with 18 digs of her own, a season high for the sophomore. Carens and O'Connell finished with two block assists each to lead the team.
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's returns home on Wednesday for a quick stop as they host Albion College for their MIAA home opener at 7pm. The Belles then head on the road for their final non-conference matchups on October 10 as they travel to Concordia University Chicago to take on Luther College and the hosting Cougars.
