Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Bates in Return to Action

LEWISTON, Maine – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team swept past Bates College, 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-19), on Friday evening in Alumni Gym.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (2-5), Bates (2-6)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• First-year Grace Almeida (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), 12 kills, .455 hitting
• Sophomore Dana Welch (Howell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), 10 kills
• Junior Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 33 assists, 12 digs, 6 kills, 2 aces
• Sophomore Ella Patterson (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago), 6 kills, 7 digs, 5 aces, 3 assists
• Senior Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]), 6 kills, .556 hitting
• Senior Caitlin O’Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 6 kills
• First-year Kyla Farnan (Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle), 12 digs, 5 assists, 2 aces
• First-year Katarina Mladenovic (Chicago, Ill./Maine South), 5 digs, 2 aces
• Junior Jillian Orth (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 5 digs

OPPONENT LEADERS

• First-year Sofia Castiglioni, 9 kills, .412 hitting
• Junior Chrissy Chu, 17 assists
• First-year Logan Yogi, 9 digs

MATCH FACTS

• The teams met for the first time since 1999, as Saint Michael’s improved to 2-2 in the all-time series, winning for the first time since their first meeting on Oct. 22, 1983.
• Saint Michael’s held sizeable advantages in kills (46-23), hitting percentage (.262-.099), aces (11-6) and digs (46-38).
• Purple Knight head coach Lauren Brough played for the Bobcats as an undergraduate.
• Saint Michael’s returned to action for the first time since Sept. 12.

THE ACTION

• In a 7-7 opening set, Saint Michael’s netted four straight points to go ahead for good, with Mladenovic dropping an ace and Báez Rentas a kill. Bates never came closer than two points down the stretch, as the visitors pulled away with a clinching 9-3 run during which Mladenovic and Farnan posted aces.
• The Purple Knights led 12-6 in the second set on O’Connor’s kill before Bates rallied to lead at 22-21 on an error. However, the Purple and Gold received kills from Syverson and Almeida and an ace by Farnan in a 3-0 response, and Patterson turned in a kill to cap the set.
• Four Purple Knights had kills as their team lead 7-3 in set No. 3, and Patterson (2) and Báez Rentas (1) later combined for three aces in a 5-1 run that provided the visitors a 17-11 lead. The Bobcats never came closer than three points down the stretch.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S MATCH

• Oct. 3 vs. Southern New Hampshire University, 7 p.m.
• The Penmen won the 2022 NCAA East…