COLCHESTER, Vt. – The Saint Anselm College women's volleyball team returned to action on Wednesday and picked up a four-set victory over Saint Michael's College at the Ross Sports Center.
Saint Anselm improves to 12-5 overall on the year while evening its record in Northeast-10 Conference play at 2-2. Saint Michael's remains without a league win across four matches, falling to 1-7 overall. The Hawks have won each of the last five matches over the Purple Knights.
Freshman Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) led the Hawks with 11 kills on 25 swings while junior Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) handed out 40 of her team's 46 assists on the evening, hammering home a team-best six service aces in the process to match a personal single-match high.
Defensively, three student-athletes had 10 or more digs, led by junior Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) and her total of 16. Belmontez has eclipsed the 200-plus dig threshold for the second time in her career.
After a hard-fought loss to Southern New Hampshire on Tuesday, the Hawks had a match with the Purple Knights less than 24 hours after their defeat in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. Down by a 2-1 margin early in the first set, a 5-0 scoring run by the Hawks positioned them to open up a five-point lead at 17-12. Sophomore Lois Dogbe (Winchester, Calif.) logged each of her team's final two points of the opening set via the kill.
Saint Anselm opened up an 11-4 lead in the second set and limited the Purple Knights to just nine points, leading by as many as 12 points. Belcher had three of her 11 kills down the stretch, posting three of her team's final points via kills set up by Henwood.
Saint Michael's overwhelmed the Hawks early in the third set, opening up a 6-1 lead and never looking back, winning their first set in NCAA Division II play since October 2018. At one point, Saint Anselm reduced the score to 15-14, but were never able to recapture the lead in the third as Saint Michael's held on and cut the match score to 2-1.
In the fourth set, Saint Anselm built a 12-8 lead and put the match away with a nine-point run. In total, the Hawks finished the match with an impressive scoring streak of 13-to-1.
The Hawks enjoy a lengthy break, returning to action on Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. against Stonehill in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.