MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College volleyball team closed its non-conference schedule with a five-set win over Bridgeport on Tuesday.
With the win, the Hawks improve to 11-4 overall while the Purple Knights fall to 7-6. Saint Anselm returns to action on Tuesday, Oct. 12 when Queen City rival, Southern New Hampshire comes to the Hilltop.
The match saw the teams alternate sets through the first four sets but the Hawks ended the trend with a fifth-set win, winning sets two, four and five. The set scores for the match were 29-27, 11-25, 25-20, 23-25, and 13-15.
Junior
Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) paced the Hawks offense with a match-high 17 kills. Sophomore
Audrey Simmons (North Hampton, N.H.) posted 15 while junior
Lois Dogbe (Winchester, Calif.) and freshman
Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) finished with 13 and 12 kills each. Junior
Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) threw up a career-high 50 assists.
Classmate
Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) posted 27 digs for her season-high and added eight assists in the transition game. Belmontez also registered a match-high eight service aces as the Hawks posted 15 for the match.
In the opening set, Bridgeport posted four consecutive points, pushing the score to 16-11 following a service ace by
Emily Burford. The set appeared to be slipping away from Saint Anselm but the Hawks clawed their way back into the set and took the lead with five straight points. A pair of kills by Casey and three Purple Knights errors allowed the Hawks to take a 24-23 lead. The teams would trade scores through the extra points until a pair of Saint Anselm errors gave the set to the Purple Knights at 29-27.
The Hawks rebounded in set two and led early, 10-7. Saint Anselm recorded nine-consecutive points to take a commanding 19-7 lead in the set. Simmons and Henwood had three and two kills each while Belmontez collected four of her eight service aces on the run. With the large lead, the Hawks would go on to close set two by a 25-11 score.
Down early in the third set, the Hawks posted eight straight points and led 14-8. Sophomore
Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.) started the stretch with a kill before three more Belmontez service aces and two kills from Dogbe closed the eight-point run. However, the Purple Knights tallied 10 of the next 12 points to regain an 18-16 lead. With momentum on their side, the Purple Knights would close out the middle frame by a 25-20 score.
Neither team gained a clear advantage in the fourth set until late in the set. Bridgeport led 20-19 but a five-point run by the Hawks, powered by kills from Dogbe and Simmons and a Belmontez service ace, pushed the set to 24-20. Bridgeport tallied the next three points, forcing a timeout from the Hawks but a kill by Dogbe ended the set and forced a winner-take-all fifth stanza.
Saint Anselm took an early lead in the fifth set as Belcher, Dogbe, and Casey found kills on a five-point swing, pushing the score to 8-2. However, a Hawks error, two service aces, and a kill by
Melanie Smith got the set to 8-6. Saint Anselm quickly responded with three kills from Casey and after trading of points, the Hawks hit match point at 14-9. The Purple Knights were beneficiaries of four consecutive Hawks errors to cut the lead to one but Simmons closed out the match with a kill, giving the Hawks a 3-2 match win.
