Women’s Volleyball Suffers 3-1 NE10 Loss to Pace

COLCHESTER, Vt. – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team capped a three-match home week with a 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-11, 25-18) loss to Pace University on Saturday during Northeast-10 Conference play in the Ross Sports Center.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (1-17, 0-9 NE10), Pace (4-16, 2-6 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• First-year Ella Patterson (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago), 14 kills, 7 digs
• Junior Caitlin O’Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 8 kills
• Senior Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), 7 kills
• Senior Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]), 7 kills
• Sophomore Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 33 assists, 22 digs, 2 blocks
• Sophomore Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame), 10 digs
• Sophomore Syrah Wright (Richmond, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union), 8 digs
• Senior Maddie Van Winkle (Medford, Mass./Arlington Catholic), 6 digs, 2 aces

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Brielle Jones, 18 kills, 9 digs, 3 aces
• Junior Cydney Gardner, 14 kills
• Sophomore Georgette Cosentino, 39 assists, 12 digs, 2 blocks
• Junior Jada Screen, 9 kills, 2 aces, 2 blocks
• Senior Jamie Bittiger, 15 digs

MATCH FACTS

• After not playing at home for more than five weeks, the Purple Knights finished a run of three home matches in five days.

THE ACTION

• Neither team led by more than two points until Pace used a 7-0 run to nab a 17-12 lead in the opening set, but a 5-0 stretch from the Purple Knights chipped the deficit to 23-20 on back-to-back kills by Patterson and Curley. Jones and Screen responded with kills to cap the set.
• A pair of kills from Báez Rentas bookended a 4-0 run that gave Saint Michael’s an 8-4 lead in the second set, and the hosts later used a 7-1 run to snap a 10-all tie, with O’Connor dropping two kills in that time. Pace countered with a go-ahead 8-1 run (19-18), but the Purple and Gold scored seven of the final nine points to knot the match, as Patterson had three kills before Van Winkle dropped an ace at set point.
• Syverson’s kill had her team within 7-4 in set No. 3, and Saint Michael’s trailed 10-6 before the Setters ended the set on a 15-5 run.
• Pace snapped a tie with five straight points to secure an 11-6 lead in the fourth set, with Jones notching two kills, but three straight O’Connor kills highlighted a 4-0 response that became a tying 7-2 run. Jones’ kill gave the visitors a 14-13 edge, the final lead of the match, as Saint Michael’s was down 20-18 after Syverson’s kill before…