NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College volleyball team ran its winning streak to six matches and recorded its highest attack percentage in 35 matches dating back to last season in a 25-17, 25-18, 27-25 victory over Merrimack College on Thursday evening at Hammel Court.
Box Score
Saint Anselm (8-4) hit over .350 in all three sets and its .388 clip for the match was the highest for the Hawks since the team hit .403 in a sweep of Nyack on Sept. 9, 2016. The win over Merrimack (2-8) was the fourth-straight in the series for Saint Anselm, going back to Nov. 3, 2015.
After entering the match with nine kills on the season, freshman Jordan Schamp exploded for 14 kills on 22 swings to hit .454 and lead the way for the Hawks. Madison Sollows hit .667 in the match, recording seven kills and one error on nine swings. Amanda Williams chipped in with six kills, while Katy Teets and Amanda Bickford each had five.
Jewel Hays began the night needing five assists to become the fifth player in program history to record 2,000 career assists and hit the milestone in the opening set as part of a 27-assist performance. Georgia DuMars added a career-high 11 assists, while Nia Bridges and Danielle Isbell had nine digs apiece.
Mary Kate McCarroll had 10 kills and Katelynn Marr tallied nine to lead the Merrimack attack. Sydney Buran had 14 assists, Rose Sperduto contributed 13 and Christina Nye had a team-high nine digs for the Warriors in their home opener.
Both teams hit over .300 in the opening set as Saint Anselm hit .393 and Merrimack hit .333. The Hawks broke an 8-8 tie with a 6-0 run that included a kill and two aces by Schamp and two kills from Sollows to give Saint Anselm a cushion. The run was part of an 11-1 spurt that put the Hawks up 19-9 and, despite a late Merrimack rally, Saint Anselm took the opener 25-17.
Saint Anselm's attack percentage rose to .423 in the second set while Merrimack's dipped to .069. After an early 3-2 Merrimack lead, the Hawks won six of the next seven points to take a lead they would not relinquish. The Warriors cut a 22-14 deficit to 22-18 late in the set, but Williams had two kills and was in on a block with Kate Peters in the final three points to put the Hawks up two sets to none.
Merrimack got out to a 10-6 lead early in the third and continued to lead by four at 18-14. Looking to extend the match, the Warriors brought up three set points at 24-21, but the Hawks sent the set to extra points behind kills from Schamp and Sollows and a Merrimack error. After the Warriors saved a match point down 25-24, Sollows and Williams ended the match with consecutive kills.
Saint Anselm returns to Northeast-10 Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 23 when Southern Connecticut State University visits Stoutenburgh Gymnasium for an 11 a.m. match.
