SANDUSKY, Ohio - The Saint Mary's volleyball team took a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) win over Kenyon but fell 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-13, 25-20) against Oberlin on day two of the NCAC/MIAA Crossover Challenge on Saturday.

 

The first set of the opening match saw Kenyon gain a 4-0 lead before the Belles took six of the next seven points for a 6-5 advantage. After six ties, Saint Mary's gained a 14-11 edge as the Ladies called a timeout. The Belles pushed the lead to 16-11, but Kenyon rattled off four quick points to make it 16-15. A service error by the Ladies was followed by a Molly Pooler kill and a Hannah Stacy block to put the Belles up 19-15. Kenyon used another push to pull within a point at 21-20, but Megan Collantes put down back-to-back kills before Allison Thornton gave Saint Mary's set-point with a kill. Collantes closed out the set at 25-21 with a kill for the 1-0 lead.

 

Trailing 6-1 in the second set, Saint Mary's came back to tie the set 12-12 with kills by Collantes, Pooler, and Stacy. Kenyon countered with the next two points before building a 16-13 lead. After a timeout by the Belles, a pair of attack errors by the Ladies helped jump-start a 6-0 scoring run as Stacy put down back-to-back kills while Shay Theile got in on the action with a kill. The Ladies knotted things up at 18-18 only to see a pair of errors give the lead right back to the Belles. Theile added another kill to make it 21-18. The two sides traded points before Kenyon drew even at 22-22. Saint Mary's went ahead 24-22 with a Kenyon error and a Molly Pooler kill before Megan Collantes lifted the Belles to a 25-23 win with another kill.

 

With the Belles trailing 16-13 in the third set against the Ladies, Saint Mary's rattled off three consecutive points to knot the score at 16-16. After ties at 17-17, 18-18, and 19-19, Molly Pooler and Megan Collantes put down consecutive kills for a 21-19 advantage. The Ladies got a point back, but Pooler and Collantes provided another big one-two punch for a 23-20 lead. Collantes added two more kills to clinch the 25-22 set win and the 3-0 team victory.

 

Megan Collantes had a match-high 19 kills - more than double the number of kills of the next highest player in the contest - on a .444 attack percentage effort while adding 11 digs. Molly Pooler hit a .467 and put away nine kills. Hannah Stacy posted seven kills and seven digs with three blocks. Claire Hennessy collected 31 assists and seven digs in the win. Emma Watford tallied nine digs.

 

In the match against Oberlin, the Belles jumped out to a 5-1 lead against the Yeowomen. Oberlin used a run to gain an 8-6 edge before taking four-point leads at 13-9 and 15-11. A kill by Allison Thornton kept it close at 15-12, but three quick points by Oberlin extended the lead to 18-12. With their backs against the wall at 24-17, the Belles continued to battle with a Collantes kill, a Hennessy service ace, and another Collantes kill, but the Yeowomen closed out the set with a kill for the 25-20 win.

 

Saint Mary's built some distance midway through the second set to turn a 9-8 lead into a 13-8 advantage on a kill by Collantes, two errors by Oberlin, and a service ace by Emma Watford. The Yeowomen pulled within a point twice in the late moments of the set to make it 21-20 and 24-23, but the double block of Chloe Koehr and Thornton carried the Belles to the 25-23 set win.

 

Oberlin gained a big lead early in the third set and led by at least six points from the 14-8 mark on their way to a decisive 25-13 win in the stanza. The fourth set more closely mirrored the first and second sets with the two sides jockeying for position. Colleen McCarthy had back-to-back kills to give the Belles a 13-12 lead, but Oberlin used a huge nine-point run to turn the momentum around and go ahead 21-13. Saint Mary's chipped away at the deficit, and a late 5-1 run pulled the Belles within three points at 23-20. The Yeowomen, however, used a kill and an ace to close out the set and the match with the 25-20 win.

 

Colleen McCarthy had a match-high 16 kills and picked up eight digs. Collantes added 15 kills, 15 digs, and three block assists. Molly Pooler tallied five kills and four block assists while Chloe Koehr put down four block assists. Allison Thornton chipped in three block assists of her own. Hennessy added 35 assists and seven digs to her totals on the day. Emma Watford led Saint Mary's with 21 digs, and Hannah Stacy put up nine digs for the Belles.

 

Saint Mary's (4-3) is back in action on Friday, September 17 when they have their first home match of the season. The Belles host Illinois Tech starting at 7:00 p.m.