Saint Mary's College

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Saint Mary's College Volleyball took home a 3-0 sweep over the University of Olivet on Friday night. The Belles improve to 13-10 (2-3 MIAA) while the Comets fell to 5-21 (1-5 MIAA).
 
The teams traded points early in the first set before Saint Mary's rattled off four straight. Olivet would answer with a 6-1 run to retake the lead midway through the set. The Belles dropped another four points to take the lead right back. After the Comets tied the match at 18, the Belles stuck another four on them. Olivet tried to bounce back into the set and made it a one point game late, but Saint Mary's held on for a tight 25-23 win in set one. Sophomore Lexi Szymanski (Walker, MI) impressed in the first set as she added seven kills alone including four in the Belles last six points.
 
Olivet took a quick four point lead early in the second set before Saint Mary's rode a 9-1 run to take a four point lead of their own. The Comets cut the deficit to one but not before the Belles used another dominating 6-1 stretch to pull away. While Olivet tried to get a comeback rolling, Saint Mary's kept the lead to a minimum of three through the rest of the set, taking it 25-20, to take a 2-0 lead. Sophomore Shannon Rudge (Granger, IN) added five kills in the second set to bring her total to seven while freshman Bridget O'Connell (Tinley Park, IL) and Rudge added three and two block assists a piece in the set.
 
The start of the third set found the teams tied at five early on after some quick point trading where nobody served back-to-back. The Belles then used a 7-1 run to separate themselves from the Comets and never looked back. Saint Mary's would use short runs of three and four points respectively to earn a strong 25-15 win in the third set, completing the Friday Night Sweep.
 
Senior Caroline Carens (Naperville, IL) along with Rudge and Szymanski added ten kills each to lead the team. All would hit above. 250 on the night while Rudge hit an impressive .400 and Carens with a .350. Senior Abby Reese (Elkhart, IN) lead the match with 20 assists on the night while junior Giuliana Graczyk (Chicago, IL) added 15.
 
Defensively, sophomore Molly Boyle (Palos Heights, IL) led the team with 17 digs. O'Connell led the team with three block assists while Carens, Rudge, and sophomore Maddie Taitano (Tacoma, WA) added two a piece.
 
As a team the Belles defense shined as they held the Comets to just a .124 hitting percentage and saw it drop in each set with a lowest of .067 in the third set.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's hits the road for back-to-back matches as they travel to Alma College on October 30 for a Friday night matchup. They then travel to Adrian College on November 4 to close out the road schedule. The Belles close out the regular season on November 7 as they host in-state rival Trine University for a 1pm matchup and celebrate Senior Day.