MANCHESTER, N.H. – Down by a set, the Saint Anselm College women's volleyball team rallied back to post a 3-1 victory over NCAA Division I Stonehill College on Friday.
Saint Anselm improves to 10-5 on the year while Stonehill, in its first season as a full NCAA Division I member, remains without a victory in nine matches. The Hawks head to Franklin Pierce on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.
Junior Kaitlin Brown (Glendale, Ariz.) led the way with 17 kills as Saint Anselm hit a season-best .352 in the match, committing just 11 attacking errors throughout the four-set affair. Senior Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) and junior Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.) hammered home nine kills in the winning effort – Casey had a hand in three total blocks.
Senior Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) was responsible for 10 digs, passing Margaret Tereschuk '12 to earn sixth place on the all-time program records list for that metric. Senior Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) set up 43 of her team's 55 kills, adding six digs of her own with five kills on nine attacks.
Freshman Ava Kidd (Walton, Ky.) produced five kills for the Hawks.
The Hawks led by three late in the first set before the Skyhawks flipped the script, scoring the set's next five points to capture a 22-20 advantage. The Hawks battled back to tie the game three times before a set-ending service ace sent Saint Anselm to a 28-26 defeat.
Several strong runs of play for the Hawks allowed the hosts to capture a 25-13 win in the second set. Hitting .706 as a team, posting 13 kills on 17 attacks, Saint Anselm saw four kills by Brown and a strong defense kept Stonehill to just two digs in the second set.
With the score at 13-10 in favor of Saint Anselm in the third set, the Hawks fired off eight of the next 10 points to cruise to a 25-20 victory. The Skyhawks made a late push, forcing Saint Anselm to record 20 digs alone in the set, but the Hawks closed out the stanza with a 2-1 lead in the match.
Stonehill led by an 11-10 score in the fourth set before the Hawks responded with a 6-0 scoring spurt that clinched the match. Stonehill would come no closer than three points before another four-point run by the hosts kept the Skyhawks at arm's length.
