KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Saint Mary's volleyball team came up short in a 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 27-25, 20-25, 15-13) final at Kalamazoo on Saturday afternoon.

 

The host Hornets jumped out to a big 12-3 lead in the first set before the Belles battled their way back to tie the score at 19-19. An 8-3 run by Saint Mary's to close that gap saw Allison Thornton, Hannah Stacy, and Colleen McCarthy all come up with points via kills while Stacy and Thorton teamed up for a block. The Belles continued to keep the late-set momentum with a three-point spurt to go up 22-20 on a McCarthy kill and back-to-back kills by Molly Pooler. Saint Mary's closed out the set with three consecutive points on a kill by Megan Collantes, a ball handling error by the Hornets, and a block by Collantes and Thornton for the 25-21 win.

 

Kalamazoo opened the second stanza by taking the first seven points for the quick 7-0 lead. Again, the Belles chipped away at the deficit and edged within a point at 13-12. The Hornets rattled off the next four points to start a 7-1 run to maintain the lead. Kills by Collantes and Thornton a short while later made it 22-18 as Saint Mary's was within striking distance late, but the Hornets used a pair of errors by the Belles to go up set-point before capturing the set 25-20.

 

The Belles capitalized on early mistakes by Kalamazoo in the third set to establish a 7-2 lead, but the Hornets pulled within a point at 7-6 with a quick scoring spurt of their own. Colleen McCarthy had a kill, and Claire Hennessy and Molly Pooler teamed up for a block as Saint Mary's kept the lead. Kalamazoo countered with a run to take a 16-15 lead, and neither side was able to build more than a two-point lead down the stretch of the third. Lexi Degnan put the Belles up set-point with a kill, but an error evened the score at 24-24. The Belles then fought off a 25-24 deficit to stay alive, but a pair of miscues late gave the set to Kalamazoo 27-25.

 

Saint Mary's broke a 4-4 tie in the fourth set with a 7-1 run and never trailed on their way to a 25-20 win in the set. The Belles posted a match-best .353 attack percentage in the fourth with 15 kills and only three errors on 34 attempts. Saint Mary's also limited Kalamazoo to a .091 hitting performance. Megan Collantes posted seven kills in the fourth set while Hannah Stacy added three to pace the Belles and force a fifth set.

 

The Belles took two-point leads at 4-2 and 6-4 before the Hornets used a three-point run to take their first lead at 7-6. Molly Pooler gave Saint Mary's leads at 8-7, 9-8, 10-9, and 11-9 with kills. The Hornets used a kill and an ace to tie the score at 11-11. The Belles took one-point leads on kills by Claire Hennessy and Megan Collantes, but a service error followed by an ace put the Hornets up match point at 14-13. Kalamazoo closed out the set and the match with a point on an attack error by the Belles for the 15-13 win.

 

Megan Collantes collected a season-high 20 kills and hit .320 while adding 14 digs in the match. Molly Pooler had a career-high 17 kills and posted a .419 attack percentage with four blocks. Colleen McCarthy added a double-double with 10 kills and 11 blocks while putting away a career-best five blocks. Allison Thornton hit .333 with six kills, nine digs, and three blocks. Courtney Pelletier had a team-high 22 digs, and Hannah Stacy had her fifth-consecutive match with double-digit digs as the senior picked up 10 digs in the match. Claire Hennessy registered 32 assists and two service aces, and Lexi Degnan added 17 assists and an ace of her own.

 

The Belles earned a spot in the top-six MIAA Tournament as the No. 6 seed. Saint Mary's will travel to No. 3 seeded Albion on Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. match.