WEST HAVEN, Conn. - The Saint Anselm College volleyball team stormed back from a two-set deficit to defeat New Haven 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-15, 15-11 and move into first place in the Northeast-10 Conference on Friday evening at Charger Gymnasium.
Box Score
Saint Anselm (16-4, 7-1 NE-10) dropped the first two tightly-contested sets, before rallying to record its first comeback from two sets down in 64 matches since Sept. 13, 2014 against Goldey-Beacom. The win was the Hawks' second victory in the last three meetings with New Haven (10-6, 5-1 NE-10) after the Chargers won the first 10 contests between the two programs.
The five-set match was also Saint Anselm's sixth five-setter in the last seven matches over the last two weeks after not going the distance once in the first 14 matches of the season. The Hawks are 3-3 in the six matches to go five sets this season.
CC Chrisom registered her sixth 20-dig performance in the last seven matches, finishing with 27 to take her over the 1,000-dig mark in her career. The senior became the eighth player in program history to hit the milestone and now has 1,010 digs for her career.
Amanda Williams and Catherine McCarthy tied for the match-lead with 16 kills apiece to pace the Hawks. Williams hit .400 in the match, while McCarthy hit .255 and posted her third-straight double-double by adding 10 digs. Madison Sollows joined Williams and McCarthy in double figures with 14 kills and a team-high four total blocks.
Jewel Hays recorded a career-high 60 assists, which is tied for the third-most in a single match in program history and the most for a Saint Anselm player since Kelly O'Dea had 61 at Stonehill on Oct. 6, 2007. Sarah Lowery pitched in nine kills and 18 digs, while Danielle Isbell made 14 digs in the win.
Kristine Rios led New Haven with a triple-double of 14 kills, 17 digs and 28 assists, while Meghan Kennelly had a double-double of 14 kills and 22 digs. Mallory Nowicki hit 14 kills and Caroline Martins added 10 for the Chargers.
In the decisive fifth set, New Haven won the first two points and held onto the two-point cushion at 9-7. However, Saint Anselm strung together three-straight points, two on kills by Williams, to take a 10-9 lead and cause a timeout by the Chargers.
After New Haven evened the score at 10-10, the Hawks went on a pivotal 4-0 run behind kills by Lowery, McCarthy and Williams and a Lowery ace to bring up match points. The Chargers saved one on a Kennelly kill before Williams sealed the comeback with a kill.
New Haven used a 5-1 run near the midway point of the first set to take a 14-8 that it would not relinquish. Saint Anselm closed to within two on four occasions later in the set but could get no closer. The Hawks led 22-20 late in the second set before the Chargers closed the set on a 5-1 burst with Kennelly tallying three kills and a block late on to give the hosts a two-set lead.
Neither team led by more than two in the third set until Saint Anselm won three consecutive points to go ahead 15-12. The Hawks maintained their three-point advantage until mounting a 3-0 run to take a commanding 24-18 lead and closed out the set with a kill by McCarthy.
After the Chargers won the first two points of the fourth set, the Hawks rattled off eight-straight points to go ahead. Saint Anselm led by at least three the rest of the way and run away with the set 25-15. The Hawks won the final five points of the set and eight of the last nine, outhitting the Chargers .275-.098 in the frame, to send the match to a fifth set.
Saint Anselm looks to build off the win at Merrimack on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.
