Women’s Volleyball Splits Pair, Blanks SUNY Plattsburgh

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team split a pair of matches on Friday during the opening day of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh’s Cardinal Classic in Memorial Hall Gymnasium. The Purple Knights blanked the hosts, 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-23), before sticking with the United States Coast Guard Academy in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-15) setback. The Bears were ranked fourth in the final 2021 NCAA Division III Region II rankings.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (1-5), SUNY Plattsburgh (0-1), Coast Guard (3-0)

SUNY Plattsburgh Match
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• Junior Caitlin O’Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 16 kills, 9 digs, 4 aces
• First-year Ella Patterson (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago), 11 kills, 16 digs, 3 blocks
• Senior Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), 7 kills, 2 blocks
• Sophomore Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 32 assists, 14 digs
• Sophomore Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame), 8 digs, 6 assists, 2 aces
• Senior Maddie Van Winkle (Medford, Mass./Arlington Catholic), 8 digs, 2 aces
• Sophomore Jillian Orth (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 3 aces

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Payton Zophy, 8 kills, 17 digs
• First-year Maggie Lyon, 8 kills
• Junior Emma Rivers, 14 assists, 7 digs
• First-year Kyleigh Ganz, 11 assists

MATCH FACTS

• The Purple Knights dropped 13 aces while holding vast advantages in digs (66-49) and kills (42-29).

THE ACTION

• A pair of aces by O’Connor helped the visitors grab a 6-1 lead in the opening set. The Cardinals rallied to tie three times on Lyon kills, including at 12-all, before Curley’s kill started a 3-0 spurt, and Saint Michael’s led 21-18 on O’Connor’s kill. The hosts netted the next four points and led 24-23 on first-year Jeannette Ashong’s kill to serve for the match. However, Patterson countered with a kill and Curley dropped an ace. Senior Jenn Braun’s kill tied the squads at 25, but Patterson put home another kill, and a setting error gave the Purple Knights the set.
• O’Connor and senior Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]) notched two kills apiece in a tie-breaking 5-0 run that put the Purple and Gold up 10-5 in set No. 2. SUNY Plattsburgh made it a one-point stanza four times, including at 22-21, before Patterson had two kills in a closing 3-0 run.
• Two Curley kills allowed Saint Michael’s to snag a 4-1 lead in the third set, but Braun’s kill capped a 4-0 stretch that provided SUNY Plattsburgh a 9-7 edge, marking…