PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Anselm College volleyball team began its busy weekend with a Friday split, sweeping Nyack College 25-23, 25-7, 25-15 before falling to host Chestnut Hill College 25-17, 24-26, 16-25, 20-25.
It was a tale of two stories at Chestnut Hill's Sorgenti Arena as Saint Anselm (3-2) got off to a slow start against Nyack (0-7). The Hawks were nearly doubled-up on kills in the first set—15 to eight in that category alone—but survived due to a handful of untimely Warrior errors to eke out the first set.
The rest of the match was a bit more decisive as Saint Anselm gave up just 22 points over the final two sets combined.
Saint Anselm's middle hitters proved the deciding factor in the first matchup. Freshman Amanda Williams (North Andover, Mass.) converted eight kills on an incredibly efficient .400 hitting clip and added four blocks to truly dominate the match from the middle. Sophomore Micaela Donatio (North Andover, Mass.) added five kills and tallied two blocks to her accord.
It was the exact opposite tale in the second match of the evening, as a hot start wasn't enough to overcome a pair of Chestnut Hill attackers. The Hawks used the momentum gained against Nyack to out-hit Chestnut Hill by 200 percentage points in a dominant set one performance.
Yet the Griffins held home court, battling to a five-point lead late in set two. Saint Anselm caused four straight attack errors—including a big-time block from senior middle Melissa Ouellet (Salem, N.H.)—to pull within one. Though tied at 24-24 in the set, Chestnut Hill went to its go-tos, finishing off with a pair of kills to lock the match at one set apiece.
Saint Anselm owned leads early in sets three and four, but Chestnut Hill (3-5) used a pair of huge runs to finish each set—18-8 and 12-7, respectively—to hand the Hawks their second loss of the season.
Statistically, the teams tallied similar numbers. Six Hawks tallied at least five kills, led by senior outside Holland McNabb (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Brennah Gladwill's (Citrus Heights, Calif.) nine apiece. Ouellet added eight kills and four blocks in the loss.
Senior setter Natalie Steinwart (Aurora, Ill.) dished out 54 assists over the two-match slate, while senior libero Melissa Jewett (Newton, Mass.) registered 36 digs.
The Hawks will have a speedy turnaround as it continues its weekend road trip Saturday morning. Saint Anselm will play host Goldey-Beacom College at 11:00 a.m. before battling Cheyney University in a 1 p.m. matchup in Wilmington, Del.
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