ALBANY, N.Y. - The Saint Anselm College volleyball team dropped a five-set match to the Golden Knights of the College of Saint Rose Friday evening at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium. The Golden Knights collected the five-set victory via set scores of 28-26, 25-21, 25-18, 25-17 and 15-13. With the victory, the College of Saint Rose improves to 12-8 overall and to 7-4 within the Northeast-10 Conference. The Hawks fall to 7-15 and 2-9 within conference play.
The Hawks captured the first set victory by a 28-26 score. With the score locked at 22-22, a Saint Rose attacking error and a Kyla Gustavson (Nashua, N.H.) kill lifted the Hawks to a 24-22 advantage. Following a brief Saint Rose rally, Lauren Ross (Dracut, Mass.) recorded two kills to knot the score at 26-26 and two ensuing attack errors clinched the first set victory for Saint Anselm.
Gustavson recorded six of her 16 kills on the evening in the second set, but Saint Anselm dropped the set 25-21. Alongside Gustavson's performance, Charlotte Tencza (Greenfield, Mass.), Natalie Steinwart (Aurora, Ill.) and Holland McNabb (Huntington Beach, Calif.) recorded service aces to assist the effort offensively.
Ross and Gustavson each recorded four kills apiece in the third set, but the Hawks hit a combined .175 and dropped the third set 25-18. McNabb recorded her second service ace of the evening and Gustavson also contributed four digs, but it was not enough to overcome the Golden Knights .385 team hitting percentage in the third set.
The Hawks forced a fifth set with a 25-17 victory in the fourth set. Shannon Douglas (Rochester, N.H.) came off the bench to provide six kills without an error in the fourth set. The first-year player out of Spaulding High School also posted two service aces off the bench to carry the Hawks offensively. Defensively, four different players recorded four digs for Saint Anselm in the fourth set.
Douglas once again dominated the offensive statistics for Saint Anselm in the fifth set, recording four kills in the 15-13 defeat in the decisive fifth set. Despite opening up a 7-4 lead early in the fifth set, the Golden Knights rallied to even the score at 13 apiece following a Saint Rose timeout. An attack error by the Hawks preceded the game-clinching service ace by Alex Gagliano to seal the victory.
Cumulatively, Gustavson led the Hawks with 16 kills and 17 digs defensively. Steinwart, serving as Saint Anselm's primary setter, assisted 53 Hawks kills. Melissa Ouellet (Salem, N.H.) posted nine kills with only one error for a team-leading .571 hitting percentage.
Several Saint Anselm players eclipsed their career-highs in several categories, including Douglas, who recorded a career-high 10 kills and two assists in her performance off of the bench. Kyla Gustavson and Natalie Steinwart also set new career-high marks with 16 kills and 53 assists, respectively.
For the Golden Knights, Aubrey Bobo posted 18 kills alongside five errors for a .371 hitting percentage. Two players, Ariana Wilson and Tori Daniels, posted 20+ assists and Katy Daniels contributed defensively with 23 digs. Sarah Kahrs posted three of the Golden Knights eight service aces.
The Hawks continue their two game New York road trip, traveling to Syracuse, N.Y. to face-off against the Dolphins of Le Moyne College in a 1:00 p.m. contest Saturday, Oct. 29. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by friending us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
