EASTON, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College volleyball team dropped its final nonconference match before Northeast-10 Conference action starts to Stonehill on Thursday night, 3-0.
The Hawks fall to 9-3 on the season while the Skyhawks improve to 7-5. Saint Anselm returns home on Saturday, Sept. 25 when Franklin Pierce comes to the Hilltop to open NE10 play for the Hawks.
The Skyhawks grabbed 25-19, 25-18, and 25-22 set victories to win the match, 3-0.
Saint Anselm was led by juniors
Lois Dogbe (Winchester, Calif.) and
Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) and freshman
Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) who all had five kills for the Hawks offense. Junior
Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) threw up 10 assists. Casey, Henwood, and junior
Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) had 21 of 30 digs for the defense.
The Skyhawks grabbed an early lead in the and would never lose the lead. Saint Anselm drew even following a pair of service aces from Dogbe. However, Stonehill opened the lead down the stretch by scoring seven of the next 10 points. Five of the points came by kills and with a 20-16 lead, the hosts would close out the set, 25-19.
Stonehill jumped out to an 11-2 lead to open the second set. The Hawks managed to cut the gap to four at 21-17 following four straight points. In the stretch, the Hawks got a kill from sophomore
Audrey Simmons (North Hampton, N.H.). The other three points came on Stonehill errors. However, the Skyhawks posted four of the final five points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The second set score closed at 25-18.
The Skyhawks took control of set three on six consecutive points. The Hawks aided the run with three errors.
Allen Jentry posted three kills for the remaining three points of the six point-swing. Saint Anselm responded with a four-point run of their own as Belcher and Casey combined for three kills and freshman
Kennedy Scheppler (Lubbock, Texas) recorded a service ace to get the deficit to two at 15-13. A Dogbe kill would make the set score 20-19 but five of the last eight points would go the Skyhawks way and they would close out the set, 25-22 and the match, 3-0.
