BELOIT, Wis. - The Saint Mary's volleyball team claimed a 3-2 (25-20, 25-13, 19-25, 12-25, 15-10) win over Beloit on Saturday afternoon.

 

With the opening stanza tied at 8-8, Megan Collantes put down back-to-back kills before a Molly Pooler block and a Pooler kill pushed the Belles ahead 12-8. The Bucs edged their way back to tie the set at 15-15, but Colleen McCarthy had three kills, Allison Thornton and Hannah Stacy teamed up for a block, and Beloit was whistled for a ball handling error to give Saint Mary's a 20-15 lead. Collantes then closed out the set with a kill for a 25-20 decision.

 

Colleen McCarthy was tough to stop early in the second set as the sophomore put away four kills through the first ten points of the set as the Belles went ahead 7-3. Leading 9-4 a short while later, the Belles went on a run to claim a 19-8 lead and never looked back in the 25-13 set victory. McCarthy ended the set with six kills on 11 attempts as the Belles posted a .273 attack percentage in the second frame.

 

Host Beloit broke a 4-4 tie early in the third set with a scoring sput to pull ahead 9-4. Saint Mary's edged within a point at 13-12, but the Bucs put the next four points on the scoreboard to regain a cushion. The Belles capitalized on some hitting miscues by Beloit before McCarthy tallied another kill to make it close again at 19-17. The hosts, however, responded with four consecutive points as the Bucs closed out the 25-19 set win.

 

Beloit stormed out to a 9-1 lead in the fourth set and led from start to finish en route to a 25-12 win to force a decisive fifth set.

 

The host Bucs claimed an early lead in the fifth, but the Belles came back to tie things up at 5-5 and 6-6. With the score tied 8-8 a few moments later, Beloit had a service error to put Saint Mary's ahead 9-8. An attack error by the Bucs made it 10-8, and Shay Theile served up an ace for an 11-8 lead. Another miscue by Beloit gave the Belles a 12-8 edge. With the score standing at 12-10 a few points later, Colleen McCarthy closed out a big performance with three consecutive kills for the 15-10 win to clinch the team victory.

 

Colleen McCarthy led all players with 22 kills on the day while adding 12 digs and three service aces. Megan Collantes added 14 kills and a team-high 28 digs. Hannah Stacy posted nine kills and eight digs with two block assists. Allison Thornton tallied six kills, six digs, and a block assist. Claire Hennessy collected 48 assists with nine digs, and Shay Theile served up two aces. Emma Watford picked up 19 digs on the day.

 

The Belles (3-1) continue their season-opening road match stretch with three contests in the second MIAA-NCAC Crossover event next weekend in Sandusky, Ohio. Saint Mary's opens play on Friday against Allegheny at 5:00 p.m.