ALBANY, N.Y. – After dropping a series of heartbreaking five-set losses this season, the Saint Anselm College volleyball team scored a major upset Friday in upstate New York, knocking off the College of Saint Rose 13-25, 25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 17-25 to keep its playoff hopes alive Saturday night at Nolan Gymnasium.
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
• Sophomore Katy Teets (Dix Hills, N.Y.) recorded a match-high 13 kills, adding eight digs, a pair of blocks and a pair of service aces to lead the Hawks.
• Senior Lauren Oxley (Bristow, Va.) matched Teets with a match-high 16 points coming off 10 kills (on .409 hitting), a match-high eight blocks and two aces.
• Sophomore Amanda Williams (North Andover, Mass.) posted 10 kills, while freshman Sarah Lowery (Chicago, Ill.) added nine putaways, a match-high three aces and seven digs.
• Junior CC Chrisom (Dover, N.H.) picked up a match-high 16 digs while sophomore Danielle Isbell (Poway, Calif.) chipped in 10 saves.
• Freshman Jewel Hays (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) dished out 38 assists, adding five digs, three blocks and a kill to another strong night as the floor general.
For the Golden Knights…
• Maryellen Devic matched Teets with 13 kills, while Carissa Dube and Jennifer Gundrum each added 10 kills for the Saint Rose.
• Samantha Atchison also matched Chrisom's 16 digs for a match-high.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Saint Rose played some inspired volleyball in the opening set, blowing Saint Anselm off the floor with an errorless 18 kills on .750 hitting in the first frame alone.
• The Hawks recovered strongly in the second set, however, turning a 13-12 deficit into a 20-16 lead off a handful of Saint Rose errors and two Teets kills and two Teets aces. The Golden Knights battled back to tie the set at 22-22, but Teets again came up with a huge kill, Hays added a timely setter dump and a Dube error handed the Hawks set two, 25-22.
• A similar late surge led by Teets and Williams pushed Saint Anselm's 21-20 lead to the finish line in the third set, all of a sudden putting Saint Rose on the defensive down 2-1.
• Clearly riding some momentum, Saint Anselm jumped ahead early in the fourth set only to have Saint Rose respond with a pair of huge runs, eventually taking a 20-19 lead it would never relinquish. A tandem block finally ended the set and evened the sets at 2-2.
• Saint Anselm pushed out to a commanding 13-7 lead off a bad set by Saint Rose, but the hosts reeled off three straight points before a Gundrum hitting error handed Saint Anselm its first set point. However, kills by Devic, Gundrum and an error by Teets flipped the script as the Golden Knights held its first match point, 15-14. An untimely service error tied the set at 15-15 and two straight rips by Teets handed the Hawks a huge, hard-fought road victory.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
• Saint Rose outhit the Hawks .286 to .201 for the match, also tallying 10 more kills.
• Saint Anselm made up those points at the service line with nine aces to the Golden Knights' six, while also outblocking Saint Rose 8-5.
NOTES
• Saint Anselm improves to 9-10 against Saint Rose in the all-time series and has two straight following Friday's win.
• Seven of Saint Anselm's 14 league games this year have been decided in five sets. The Hawks are 2-5 in matches that have gone the distance this year.
• There is only one very elaborate scenario for Saint Anselm to steal the eighth and final berth in the NE-10 Tournament next week, involving four different league matchups Saturday.
1. Saint Anselm must beat Le Moyne in Syracuse,
2. Pace must lose to Franklin Pierce at home,
3. Saint Michael's must lose on the road to Saint Rose, and
4. Stonehill must beat New Haven in West Haven.
UP NEXT
• Saint Anselm can cross off the first item on the to-do list Saturday morning, battling Le Moyne College in an 11 a.m. matinee at Ted Grant Court in Le Moyne's Henninger Athletic Center.
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