ATLANTA, Ga. - Saint Mary's College Volleyball swept their first day at the Jenny McDowell Invitational with two incredible wins, defeating Pfeiffer University, 3-0, and finishing off a monster comeback against LaGrange College, 3-2. The Belles improve to 2-1 on the year.
Saint Mary's vs Pfeiffer
The two teams traded points back and forth in the first set before Pfeiffer took an early 6-5 lead. This wouldn't last long as Saint Mary's stormed out on a big 11-3 run to take a 16-9 lead. After the Falcons tried to kick start a comeback, the Belles closed out the set on an 8-1 run to take the first set, 25-13. Senior Caroline Carens (Naperville, IL) led the team with six kills in the set while junior Giuliana Graczyk (Chicago, IL) led with eight assists.
Saint Mary's continued their strong start into the second set as they got out to an early 10-3 lead. After the Falcons rattled off three quick points, the Belles would go on a dominating 12-3 run to reach set point. The run was powered by seven kills and an impressive five attacking errors forced by the Belles. Pfeiffer added a couple more points before Saint Mary's closed out the set, 25-14. Carens added another six kills to her tally to bring her total to 12 on the match while Graczyk added nine more assists to bring her total to 17.
The Falcons came out strong in the third set as they looked to extend the match, taking an early 9-5 lead. The Belles rattled off six quick points to retake the lead and never look back. After both teams were tied at 11, Saint Mary's would close out the match on a 14-6 run as they forced six errors from Pfeiffer to take home a 25-17 win in the third set and the 3-0 match sweep. Carens and sophomores Shannon Rudge (Granger, IN) and Maddie Taitano (Tacoma, WA) all added three kills in the set while Rudge, sophomore Molly Boyle (Palos Heights, IL) and freshman Maddy VanBlack (Tecumseh, MI) added a service ace.
Carens led the team with 15 total kills while Taitano added eight and Rudge with seven. Carens also led the team with an impressive .545 hitting percentage while freshman Bridget O'Connell (Tinley Park, IL) hit .455 on 11 attempts. Graczyk led with 20 assists on the match while senior Abby Reese (Elkhart, IN) added 12. Reese and Boyle each had two service aces.
Defensively, Boyle put up her second straight 20 dig match. Reese led the team with three block assists while Carens added two assists and a solo block. As a team, Saint Mary's held Pfeiffer to just a .044 hitting percentage on the game and forced them in 17 errors.
Saint Mary's vs LaGrange
Saint Mary's and LaGrange went back and forth in the first while the Belles held a small lead for the majority of the set before the Panthers tied the match at 13. LaGrange would take the lead shortly after and keep Saint Mary's at a safe distance till the end of the set where they would take a close 25-21 win. Carens led the team with three kills in the set while four Belles added at least three digs, Rudge led with four.
The Panthers controlled the second set as they took a 2-0 lead with a 25-14 victory. Three Belles finished the set with three kills on the match while Carens and O'Connell each added a solo block and O'Connell and Taitano combined for one.
Saint Mary's led early in the third set before LaGrange battled back and tied the match. No team earned a lead larger than three points. As the Panthers led 18-16 late in the set, the Belles would go on a strong 9-2 run aided by four attacking errors for the Panthers and two kills for Carens and Rudge to take a 25-20 win in the third set to extend the match. Carens jumped to seven kills on the match while Reese moved into double-digit assists with 10.
The fourth set continued the same story early on as both teams traded points back and forth. Saint Mary's then exploded onto another 9-2 run to get out to a 17-9 lead late in the set and never looked back. The run was aided once again by Carens with three kills and Rudge with two. The Belles handled the rest of the set cleanly as they took four straight points to take the 25-14 win to send the match to a fifth set tie breaker. Carens and O'Connell both had incredible sets with five kills each while Reese added seven assists and Boyle added seven digs.
The two teams continued to go back and forth in the fifth set until they were tied 7-7. The Belles offense would explode for an 8-3 backed by three kills from Carens and two service aces from Reese to close out their comeback and earn a 15-10 fifth set victory, taking the match 3-2. O'Connell added an impressive five more kills in the fifth set while Carens added four. Reese added six more assists to surpass 20 on the game.
Carens led the team with 16 kills while O'Connell finished with 13, her second time surpassing double-digits in her first three collegiate games. O'Connell would also hit an incredible .571 on the match while Carens added a .414 hitting percentage. Reese led the team with an impressive 23 assists while Graczyk added on 15.Â
Defensively, Boyle led the team with 15 digs while Rudge joined her in double-figures with 12. Carens and O'Connell both added two solo blocks while Reese led with five block assists. Carens added four block assists and O'Connell had three. The Belles forced 30 errors by the Panthers while holding them to just a .150 hitting percentage on the match with two sets being sub-.100.
UP NEXT FOR THE BELLES
Saint Mary's continues the Jenny McDowell Invitational on Saturday as they take on the hosts Emory University at 11am before closing out the weekend against Oglethorpe College at 1:30pm.
