MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College volleyball team dropped its Northeast-10 Conference match to Bentley University in straight sets on Friday evening.

With the loss, the Hawks fall to 11-6 on the season with a 1-1 mark in NE10 matches while Bentley moves to 11-4 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Pace University. That NE10 match is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.

The Saint Anselm volleyball program hosted an Alumni Night which featured former student-athletes from eight classes on the Hilltop in a pre-match ceremony.

Bentley opened the match with a 25-19 first set win before collecting wins in set two and three by 26-24 and 25-16 scores.

Senior Lauren Casey (Jefferson City, Mo.) and sophomore Gabby Belcher (Buckeye, Ariz.) led the Hawks offense with seven kills each.

Junior Kaitlin Brown (Glendale, Ariz.) collected 13 digs while senior Michelle Henwood (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) registered 12 digs and added 24 assists in the contest.

Senior Caroline Belmontez (San Diego, Calif.) moved into sixth in all-time digs, overtaking CC Chrisom '16 and Margaret Tereschuk '12. Belmontez now has 1,137 following her 10-dig performance against the Falcons.

Saint Anselm captured a 13-10 lead in set one following a kill by Brown, but a four-point run by Bentley gave them a 14-13. The teams would swap points in the closing stages of the opening set but five consecutive points by the Falcons closed set one in their favor by a 25-19 margin.

Another back-and-forth battle early saw Bentley hold a 13-11 lead, but five straight points by the Hawks gave them a 16-13 and forced a timeout from the visitors. A pair of errors from Bentley extended the Saint Anselm lead to 19-15 which forced the second timeout from Bentley. The Falcons, following the short break, scored on seven of the next nine points, taking a 22-21 lead in the set. After an error from Bentley and a kill by junior Audrey Wetjen (Henderson, Nev.), the match was tied at 24 but a pair of Hawks errors closed set two at 26-24 for Bentley.

A kill from Henwood pushed set three to 11-10 for Bentley. The Falcons would rattle off six of the next seven points to take a 19-12 edge before the Hawks replied with three of the next four. However, four consecutive points put the Falcons on match point. A kill from Wetjen extended the set but a kill from Bentley closed set three at 25-16 and the match at 3-0.