NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Saint Mary's College Volleyball earned a big 3-2 win over Kalamazoo College in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday. The Belles improved to 5-2 on the year while the Hornets fall to 2-6.
Both teams traded points back and forth throughout the early portion of the first set before Saint Mary's took a short lead. Kalamazoo then went on a 6-0 run into the first set media timeout to take a 15-11 lead. The teams continued to bounce points off each other before the Hornets took a five point lead as they looked to close out the set. The Belles had other plans as they went on an 8-1 run to close out the set and earn a big 26-24 first set victory. Sophomore Lexi Szymanski (Walker, MI) led the final charge for the Belles as she capped off the set win with back-to-back service aces. Senior Caroline Carens (Naperville, IL) and freshman Bridget O'Connell (Tinley Park, IL) led the team with four kills in the set.
Kalamazoo got hot early in the second set, getting out to a strong lead of seven at the set media timeout. After taking the Hornets took the first point after the timeout, Saint Mary's would go on a strong 7-0 to cut the deficit to one, aided by strong serving from sophomore Shannon Rudge (Granger, IN). Kalamazoo would keep Saint Mary's at a distance throughout the remainder of the set and took a 25-22 win to even the match at one. Carens had a strong set for the Belles as she added five kills to her total.
Saint Mary's came out red hot to kick off the third set as they went on a dominating 9-0 run to open the set and got out to a huge 16-3 lead midway through the set. While the Hornets used a couple of short runs to try and get back into the match, the Belles closed out the set with a 5-3 advantage, winning the set 25-11 and taking a 2-1 lead. Senior Abby Reese (Elkhart, IN) and freshman Maddy VanBlack (Tecumseh, MI) both added four kills in the set to lead the team. The team also held Kalamazoo to a -0.067 hitting percentage while forcing eight errors.
The teams went back and forth to open the fourth set before Kalamazoo would go on an 8-1 run to open the match up. Both teams bounced back and forth throughout the remainder of the set, but the Belles couldn't get the slight edge and the Hornets forced a fifth set tiebreaker with a 25-18 win. Carens added five more kills while sophomore Molly Boyle (Palos Heights, IL) added an impressive 10 digs in the set alone.
Kalamazoo got out to a quick 4-1 lead in the final set, but with no fear from Saint Mary's, they stormed back on a 9-1 run to take a sizeable 10-5 lead in the final set. The Hornets cut the deficit to just two before the Belles closed out the match on a 5-1 run to take home their first home victory of the season, 15-9, with a 3-2 win over Kalamazoo.
Carens led the team with 17 kills on the night, this was her sixth match posting 15 or more kills and she surpassed 100 kills in a season. Carens has surpassed 100 kills in every season of her career. VanBlack had an outstanding night for the Belles, posting a career high 11 kills. Junior Giuliana Graczyk (Chicago, IL) added a team high 26 assists for the Belles while Reese would contribute 18. Carens, Rudge, and Szymanski would all add two service aces on the night.
Defensively, Boyle added a team best 25 digs, her fourth match with 20 or more digs and tying her career best. VanBlack added 15 while Rudge contributed 11. Reese and Graczyk also added 10 each. The Belles totaled 20 blocks on the night, Carens led with seven block assists while Reese added four. Both VanBlack and O'Connell tacked on three each.
As a team, Saint Mary's held Kalamazoo to hitting just .163 on the night and forced 31 errors. In all three sets the Belles won, the hornets hit no higher than a .167 and hit in the negatives in the third set.
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's hits the road this weekend as they take on a very competitive field at the Marilyn Scribner Invitational, hosted by Wheaton College. The Belles will play two games on both Friday and Saturday, kicking it off on Friday against Concordia University Chicago at 4pm CST and Central College at 6:30pm CST. They close out the weekend on Saturday against the hosts Wheaton at 10 am CST and then finish against Aurora University at 3pm CST.
