MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's volleyball team snapped the nine-match winning streak of the visiting Skyhawks from Stonehill College, picking up a five-set victory on Tuesday at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
Saint Anselm moves to 13-5 overall on the season while evening its record at 3-3 against Northeast-10 Conference teams. Stonehill sees its nine-match winning streak come to a close, dropping to 14-6 overall on the year after losing its first NE10 match in five opportunities.
The Hawks came out on the losing end of a 25-23 decision in the first set, but turned the tables in set two, winning by an equivalent margin. Saint Anselm took a 2-1 match lead with a 25-22 victory before Stonehill came roaring back with a 25-22 win in the fourth. The Hawks came out on top in set five, 15-12.
In total, Tuesday's match saw a total of 43 tied scores and a whopping 21 lead changes. The teams combined for 342 attacks and 155 digs, but Saint Anselm came away with the five-set win, the squad's second in its last four matches played.
Junior Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) led the team in kills (13) and service aces (seven, career-best), picking up the double-double with a career-high 20 digs to her credit. Sophomore Audrey Simmons (North Hampton, N.H.) and freshman Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) logged 12 kills apiece.
Junior Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) threw up 45 assists on the evening and was helped out defensively with 24 digs by classmate Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.). Sophomore Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.) threw up six block assists at the net and contributed nine kills.
Saint Anselm had a season-high 19 service errors, but posted a season-best total of 87 digs to overcome the miscues at the baseline.
In the decisive fifth set, Saint Anselm came away with the streak-snapping victory after breaking a 10-10 tie with five of the matches' next seven points. In that stretch, Belcher picked up two kills and Casey had the game's final point, hammering home a kill off a Henwood set at match point. In the set, Belcher had three kills on seven errorless swings while Belmontez logged six digs to lock down the victory.
Saint Anselm played Stonehill to a 20-20 score in the opening set, but it was the visiting Skyhawks who came out with a 25-23 win in the opener. The Skyhawks logged two service aces and took advantage of four Saint Anselm attacking errors en route to the victory in the opener. Saint Anselm committed six service errors and 10 attacking miscues in the first set alone.
With a 14-14 score in the second set, the Skyhawks conceded six of the stanza's next seven points to the Hawks, who would go onto lead 19-16. Stonehill would not go down without a fight, battling the Hawks to a 23-23 tie. Freshman Kennedy Scheppler (Lubbock, Texas) came on to serve in the tie match and, following a Belcher kill, put home the set-winning service ace.
The third set was tied at 16, but Saint Anselm pulled away with seven of the next eight points to take a commanding 23-17 lead. The Skyhawks would mount a brief comeback, shrinking the deficit to a manageable 23-21 score, but Saint Anselm called a time-out and used kills from junior Lois Dogbe (Winchester, Calif.) and Belcher to put the set away.
In what was a theme of the evening, Saint Anselm and Stonehill played to a tie late in the fourth set as the score was deadlocked at 20. The visitors stepped up late, however, and used two kills that sandwiched a bad set by the Hawks to lead 23-20. A late service error by Saint Anselm preceded an attacking error on set point, forcing a fifth and decisive set.
Stonehill was led by 15 kills from Basia Peragine. Lauren Wilke handed out 28 assists and Carly Russell posted 19 digs on the evening.
Saint Anselm will play four of its next six matches at home, starting with a 7 p.m. contest against Assumption scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 26 in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
