ALBION, Mich. - The Saint Mary's volleyball team had their season come to a close in a 3-1 (25-11, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21) match at Albion in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament on Tuesday evening.

 

The No. 3 seeded Brits used a 10-2 run to turn a 6-6 tie score into a 16-8 lead in the opening set against the No. 6 seeded Belles. Saint Mary's was unable to string multiple points together down the stretch in the opening stanza as Albion captured the set by a 25-11 score.

 

The Belles put themselves right back into the match with a strong second set. Trailing 6-4, Saint Mary's rattled off a 8-1 run to gain a 12-7 advantage. Megan Collantes put down a pair of kills, served up two aces, Colleen McCarthy chipped in a kill, and Hannah Stacy and Allison Thornton teamed up for a block. The Brits were within two points at both 12-10 and 13-11, but a late 6-1 run by Saint Mary's pulled the Belles away for good in the set. Albion made it close at 23-20 and 24-21, but kills by Hannah Stacy and Colleen McCarthy lifted the Belles to the 25-21 win in the set.

 

The third set saw the home side go ahead 20-13, but the Belles came storming back against the Brits. A service error by Albion started a 9-2 run for Saint Mary's that saw the Belles tie the score at 22-22. Claire Hennessy and Shay Theile each had an ace, Megan Collantes added two kills, Molly Pooler put away a kill of her own, and the Belles built late momentum trying to go up 2-1 in the match. The Brits, however, used a kill and a block to pull ahead set point, and Albion took the overall match lead with a kill for the 25-22 win in the third set.

 

The fourth stanza was a back-and-forth battle as Saint Mary's fought to keep the match and their season alive. Down by three points on two different occasions, the Belles turned an 8-5 deficit into a 9-8 lead before changing the score from being down 17-14 into a tie set at 17-17. The teams traded points until Albion used consecutive points to go ahead 21-19. Molly Pooler put down a kill to make it 21-20, but another set of consecutive points for the Brits put Albion up 23-20. Pooler came through in the clutch again with another kill for a 23-21 score. The home side, however, put down back-to-back kills to capture the set 25-21 and the match by the 3-1 margin.

 

Molly Pooler and Megan Collantes each hammered down 13 kills to lead the Belles. Collantes collected a double-double with 11 digs on the night. Hannah Stacy added nine kills and nine digs, and Colleen McCarthy posted six kills. McCarthy and Courtney Pelletier shared team-high honors with 16 digs each. Claire Hennessy posted a double-double with 38 assists and 15 digs.

 

The Belles conclude the season with a 7-15 record.