Saint Mary's College

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Saint Mary's College fell in their 2026 season opener to Manchester University at home on Tuesday, 3-2, in a back-and-forth battle all night. The Belles fall to 0-1 to open the season while the Spartans start at 1-0.
 
Both teams had short runs to kick off the first set before battling back and forth throughout the remainder. After a three point run for the Belles to cut the Spartans lead to 20-19, the two teams would trade points over the next nine rallies as Manchester took a 25-23 win in the first set. Freshman Maddy VanBlack (Tecumseh, MI) led the team with three kills in the set while three others added two each. Sophomore Molly Boyle (Palos Heights, IL) had six of the team's 20 digs.
 
Manchester stayed hot entering the second set, getting out to an early 7-2 lead. Saint Mary's battled right back to tie the match at seven before going on an incredible 10-2 run to take a 19-13 lead. While the Spartans tried to bounce back, and cut the deficit to just three, the Belles held on to take a 25-20 win in the second set to even the match at 1-1. Senior Caroline Carens (Naperville, IL) led the team with four kills in the set, bringing her total to six, while VanBlack and freshman Bridget O'Connell (Tinley Park, IL) ended the set with five each. Junior Giuliana Graczyk (Chicago, IL) added seven assists in the set to bring her total to 10.
 
The two teams continued to battle into the third set, as no one had more than a four point lead throughout the majority of the set. Saint Mary's got out to a late five point lead, 22-17, before battling back and forth and Manchester going on a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to one point before sophomore Lexi Szymanski (Walker, MI) tallied a kill to finish off the set, giving the Belles a 25-23 win and a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth. Carens added four more kills to move up to 10 while Boyle added seven more digs to bring her total to 16.
 
Manchester got out to an early lead in the fourth set and never looked back. While both teams traded points throughout the set, Saint Mary's couldn't crack the Spartans as they took a 25-20 win in the fourth set to force a fifth and final tiebreaker set. Carens moved up to 13 kills while VanBlack and O'Connell moved up to nine and eight each. Graczyk added five more assists for 17 while senior Abby Reese (Elkhart, IN) moved into double-figures with 11. VanBlack and Szymanski also joined Boyle in double figure digs with 11 and 10.
 
While the Belles got out to a quick 3-0 lead in the final set, it was all Spartans from there on out as they closed out the match with a 15-5 run to take the 3-2 victory on opening night.
 
Carens led the team with 16 total kills while hitting an incredible .400 on the night. O'Connell added 10 kills in her collegiate debut while VanBlack finished with nine in her debut. Graczyk led the team with 21 assists while Reese added 12 of her own. 
 
Defensively, Boyle led the way with 20 digs in her first collegiate game while both Szymanski and VanBlack added 11 each. Carens led the team with six blocks while her and VanBlack each had two solo blocks while also adding four block assists. Reese also added four block assists and O'Connell had three.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's will take a long trip this weekend as they travel south to Atlanta, GA to compete in the Jenny McDowell Invitational hosted by Emory University. They will take on Pfeiffer University and LaGrange College on Friday before playing the host Emory and Oglethorpe University on Saturday.