EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Saint Anselm College volleyball team established a program record for consecutive set wins on Friday at a tri-match on the campus of East Stroudsburg University. The Hawks logged a straight-set victory over Caldwell and won their 16th consecutive set during the match against East Stroudsburg – Saint Anselm would drop the finale against the Warriors, 3-2.

Saint Anselm handled Caldwell in three sets (25-15, 25-14, 25-17) before falling to East Stroudsburg (25-14, 19-25, 26-28, 25-19, 10-15). Jumping out to a 5-0 record on the season, each of the Hawks victories had come in straight-set matches - by winning the opening set against the Warriors, the Hawks set the team record with 16 consecutive set wins.

Saint Anselm is now 5-1 on the season while Caldwell goes to 0-2  – East Stroudsburg snaps a four-match losing streak and netted its first win of 2021. The Hawks return to action at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11, to face Pitt.-Johnstown. They will play Kutztown later in the day on Saturday.

MATCH ONE: Saint Anselm 3, Caldwell 0

In the first match, Saint Anselm recorded a .231 hitting percentage and added nine service aces which pushed them over 50 through the team's first five matches of the season. Junior Lois Dogbe (Winchester, Calif.) led the offense with 10 kills. Freshman Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) added nine kills and the team posted a total of 43.

Junior Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) recorded her 35th career match with more than 20 assists as she threw up 28 against the Cougars. Junior Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) and sophomore Alina Barbarena (Los Angeles, Calif.) contributed 10 digs each.

After a service ace to open the first set by Caldwell, the Hawks got back-to-back points on a kill by Dogbe and a service ace by Henwood. With Saint Anselm slowly building a lead through the middle of the set, the Hawks registered eight of nine points and opened up a 21-10 lead. Dogbe, junior Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) and Belcher earned five of the points by kills. The teams traded points with the Hawks closing out set one, 25-15. The Hawks committed just two attack errors and posted a .542 hitting percentage in the opening set.

Saint Anselm opened set two on a 5-1 run. Caldwell closed the gap to two on two different occasions, but six-straight points by the Hawks pushed the score to 17-9. Henwood had a hand in four of those points (one kill, three assists). The Hawks closed out the set by scoring seven of the final nine points to close out the set, 25-14.

The third set saw Caldwell take an early 5-3 lead but 10 of the next 11 points went the way of the Hawks as they opened up a 13-7 advantage. The Cougars earned the next two points but six of the next seven were registered by Saint Anselm as the lead grew to 19-9. Sophomores Kaitlin Brown (Glendale, Ariz.) and Audrey Simmons (North Hampton, N.H.) combined for three kills in that stretch as the Hawks closed out the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-0.

MATCH TWO: East Stroudsburg 3, Saint Anselm 2

In the second match, Saint Anselm posted 66 kills and was led by Casey and her 15 kills. Belcher, sophomore Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.), and Simmons posted double digit kills for the offense and Henwood earned 49 assists, which is a new-career high for the junior. Belmontez led the Hawks defense with 19 digs. Henwood and Casey had 18 digs each.

Down by a 4-2 margin in the fifth set, Saint Anselm rattled off six consecutive points to earn an 8-4 lead. In that span, Brown hammered home two service aces and back-to-back East Stroudsburg attacking errors put Saint Anselm in the driver's seat for the time being.

The Warriors came roaring back, stunning the Hawks with six of the set's next seven points to give East Stroudsburg a 10-9 advantage. Saint Anselm would not recover as the Warriors posted six of the final seven points of the match to stun the Hawks – in the fifth set alone, the Hawks had five attacking errors and fell victim to two service aces down the stretch.

To open the match, Saint Anselm hit at a .361 clip and were led by Wetjen, who registered six kills in set one. The teams traded points early in the set which got the score to 3-3. However, the Hawks registered nine of the next 10 points to open a 12-4 lead. The Warriors pushed back and earned seven of the next nine points which closed the gap to four at 15-11. Saint Anselm rallied and closed out the set at 25-14 with six kills from Belcher, Dogbe, and Wetjen to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Saint Anselm jumped out to an early 9-4 lead in set two after a five-point run. However, the Warriors responded with nine of the next 10 points, which gave the hosts a 13-10 lead. The teams traded points until the score was 17-16 in favor of East Stroudsburg. The Warriors found six straight points and eventually closed out the set, 25-19, to end the Hawks record of consecutive sets won.

The Hawks controlled set three early as kills by Casey, Belcher, Dogbe, Wetjen and Simmons pushed the score to 10-4 before an East Stroudsburg timeout. Simmons added two more kills and Belmontez hit a service ace to up the Hawks lead to 13-4. The score would eventually grow to 16-5 in favor of Saint Anselm, but the Hawks could not hold on.

As the Hawks neared what appeared to be an easy third-set win, East Stroudsburg roared back and earned 11 of the next 13 points to knot the score at 24. Anna Salasky and Skye Wolfe posted five kills in that stretch for the Warriors. Saint Anselm took a lead in the extra points after a kill by Simmons and a Warrior attack error. However, three Warriors points on a kill and service ace by Salasky and an attack error by Saint Anselm gave the Warriors a 28-26 set three win.

The Warriors jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in set four. Saint Anselm rallied with kills from Dogbe, Belcher, and a service by Barbarena to level the score. The teams went back-and-forth until the Warriors led 14-11. The Hawks registered six straight points to capture a 16-14 which they would not let go of. Down the stretch, Saint Anselm would continue to extend their lead as a pair of Barbarena service aces, a pair of kills by Casey, and a kill by Wetjen would force a fifth and final set following a 25-19 result.