BELOIT, Wis. - Saint Mary's College Volleyball extended their opening undefeated season with two Saturday wins over Grinnell College, 3-2, and Beloit College, 3-0. The Belles improve to 11-0 on the season while the Pioneers fall to 5-9 and the Buccaneers fall to 2-7.

Saint Mary's vs Grinnell

Grinnell would start off strong, taking the first set, 25-20. The Pioneers would outkill the Belles, 13-8, in the set and would use an early 6-2 run to pull away. Both teams would trade points throughout the remainder of the set but the Belles couldn't pull it back. This was the first time this season that Saint Mary's has lost the first set of a match.

The Belles would come back with a big 25-17 victory in the second set to tie the match at one. Both teams played very even in the set statistically. Saint Mary's would have a slight advantage in kills, 15-14, but would outhit Grinnell, .481-.303. The Belles would use a quick five point run early in the set, aided by the serving of freshman Shannon Rudge (Granger, IN). They would then close out the set with three straight points, aided by kills from Rudge and junior Abby Reese (Elkhart, IN) as well as a block by the duo of senior Grace Braselton (Grand Rapids, MI) and sophomore Kalli Lewkowski (Spring Lake, MI) would seal the final point of the set.

Saint Mary's would keep their hot streak going as they would take the third set, 25-19, this time dominating Grinnell offensively. The Belles would outkill the Pioneers, 17-7, in the set while outhitting them, .293-.059. Saint Mary's would use multiple small runs of a few points early to get out to a quick lead before the Belles would go on a ramping 7-0 run to extend their lead even further with help from junior Caroline Carens (Naperville, IL) serving. Rudge and Lewkowski would tally three kills each in the run. Grinnell would start a short run of their own, but Rudge would put the set away with a kill and give the Belles a 2-1 advantage.

While both teams fought tough in the fourth set, the Pioneers would edge out the Belles, 25-20, to tie the match and send it to a fifth set. Saint Mary's would out kill Grinnell, 15-13, in the set but it was eight errors for the Belles compared to two for the Pioneers. The Belles got out to an early lead after both teams traded points, but the Pioneers would use a 6-0 run and never look back to take the set.

In the fifth set, both teams would start strong as it was tied at two early on. Saint Mary's would then go on an 8-1 run to extend their lead to seven points midway through the set. Grinnell would try to mount a comeback, but costly errors helped the Belles keep their lead and they were able to finish off the Pioneers with a big kill from Rudge.

Carens would lead the team with 13 kills while Lewkowski would follow with 12. Rudge and senior Delaney Martin (North Judson, IN) would each tally 11, this was the first time this season that the belles had four players in double figures for kills. Sophomore Giuliana Graczyk (Chicago, IL) would lead the team with 25 assists while Reese would tally 19. Reese would also lead the team with 16 digs while Martin would add 14. Graczyk and Rudge would each add 12 while senior Karli Fegan (Orland Park, IL) added 11.

Saint Mary's vs Beloit

The Belles would stay hot from their first matchup as they would take care of the Buccaneers early, 25-12, to take the first set. Saint Mary's would force an absurd 13 errors from Beloit while holding them to a -.143 hit percentage. The Belles would use a huge 15-2 run to take the Buccaneers out of the match. The run also included a big 8-0 run with excellent serving from Martin and five attacking errors from Beloit. Saint Mary's would take three of the last four points scored with two kills from Rudge and one from Carens.

The story was similar in the second set as the Belles would dominate the Buccaneers, 25-7. They would outkill them, 14-4, while also dominating in hit percentage, .480- -0.130. After tying the set at three, Saint Mary's would use a massive 15-1 run to set their footing and keep Beloit at bay. After Beloit closed off that run, Saint Mary's would then go on another 8-2 run to close out the set. The first run saw excellent serving from both Reese and Rudge while they would get kills from five different players. The final run for Saint Mary's would include three service aces including two from freshman Lexi Szymanski (Walker, MI) and one from Graczyk. 

The Belles would close out the Buccaneers with a 25-15 win in the third set to take a sweep in the match. The Belles would win every set by double-figures. While it was a closer story in the kills category, 12-9 in favor of Saint Mary's, the Belles would dominate in hitting percentage once again, .417-.077. The Belles would take a quick lead with an early 7-1 run to get their lead as high as eight points midway through the set. But it was another 8-2 run that would see the Belles close out the set and stay undefeated. The closing run would see Braselton tally three kills alone.

Rudge would lead the Belles with nine kills on the match while Martin would add eight. Lewkowski would add seven kills to the tally while Braselton added five. All four of them would hit above .400 on the match while Martin and Lewkowski would hit above .500, .500 for Martin and .538 for Lewkowski. Graczyk would lead the team with 12 assists while Reese added 10 and freshman Maddie Taitano (Tacoma, WA) added seven of her own. Graczyk led with nine digs while Szymanski would add seven, Reese would add six, and Fegan would add five.

The Belles would outkill the Buccaneers 36-20 on the day and would force an incredible 27 errors while holding them to a -0.77 hitting percentage. 

UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES

Saint Mary's returns home for a single match on Wednesday, September 24, as they host the University of Olivet in a non-conference matchup with a 7pm start. The Belles then head on the road to tackle the Manchester Tri-Match with a doubleheader against Manchester University and North Central College.