NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After more than a week off, the Saint Anselm College volleyball team returned to action with a 25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22 victory at Merrimack behind a career-high 18 kills from Madison Sollows on Tuesday evening at Hammel Court.
Box Score
Sollows' 18 kills were four more than her previous career-high and came with just two errors for a .593 attack percentage for Saint Anselm (19-4, 9-1 NE-10). The win over Merrimack (4-22, 2-9 NE-10) was the Hawks' fifth in a row and was the team's first match in 10 days. Saint Anselm also set a program record with its ninth NE-10 win of the season.
Amanda Williams was also in double figures in kills, finishing with 16 to go with a match-high six total blocks. Amanda Bickford contributed nine kills while hitting .429, as well as five blocks assists and four digs. CC Chrisom paced all players with 16 digs for Saint Anselm, which outhit Merrimack .272-.168 on the night.
Chrisom's 16 digs bring her season total to 401, the ninth-highest total in program history. Jewel Hays handed out 48 assists to give her 712 for the season, which also ranks ninth in the Saint Anselm single-season record book. Williams' six blocks saw her move into 10th in program history in career blocks with 186.
Jennifer Cain led the Warriors with a double-double of 13 kills and 14 digs. Tara Stuhr recorded 36 kills, nine digs, five kills and four block assists for Merrimack, while Mary Kate McCarroll and Katelynn Marr had eight kills apiece.
Saint Anselm quickly recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the first set by winning five-straight points to take a lead it would to relinquish. After leading 10-8, the Hawks again won five consecutive points and eight of the next nine to stretch their lead to nine, 18-9, and hit .375 to take the opener 25-15.
The Warriors hit .394 in the second set, the best for either team in any set in the match, and did not trail after the Hawks held a 4-3 lead early on. Saint Anselm was within two, 14-12, midway through the set but Merrimack won five of the next six to build a 19-13 lead and led by at least four the rest of the way.
At the start of the third, Merrimack doubled up Saint Anselm 10-5 but the Hawks responded with a 6-0 run to take the lead. Three-straight kills from Sollows gave Saint Anselm a 19-14 advantage only for the Warriors to rattle off five points in a row to tie it up. After the hosts went up 21-20, the Hawks won five of the final seven points with Williams closing the set with a kill to put Saint Anselm up two sets to one.
Neither team led by more than two in the fourth until Merrimack got back-to-back kills from Stuhr to go ahead 17-14. However, the Hawks responded with a 5-1 run that included three kills from Williams to take a 19-18 lead. The Warriors won back-to-back points to tie the set at 22-22 but a kill by Sollows and a pair of blocks from Bickford and Williams sealed the win for the Hawks.
Saint Anselm travels to Adelphi to face the Panthers on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. before returning home to Stoutenburgh for its final three matches of the regular season.
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