Saints Drop Heartbreaker to Comets in Conference Opener

Volleyball | Tue, Sep. 13, 2022 at 11:25 PM

ABERDEEN, S.D.—The Presentation College Saints fell in a 2-3 heartbreaker to Mayville State in their NSAA conference opener at home. This pushes the Saints to 3-13 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

In the first set the Saints would draw first blood with a huge kill coming from the hand of Maggie Heesch (SO/Watertown, SD). The comets would gain a little momentum by having a string of short burst rallies to give them the 7-3 lead. PC would come firing back with a 4-point streak led by Grace Tobin (JR/Mason City, IA) and Savanah Koga. The Saints would be able to string a few more rallies with the attack of Heesch and Tobin, gaining a 5-point lead over the comets. MSU is able to chip a few points back before the Saints take the set 25-18.

To start the second set the Saints would start trailing by 4 early as the comets jumped out to an early lead. Presentation would trail by 5 when Makayah Albrecht would come up with a timely kill to give the Saints momentum. Mayville would pull back ahead leading 23-18 with the Saints backed against a wall they strung a 4 point rally to put themselves back in the set. An attack error at the hands of MSU would tie up the set 24-24. The Saints would go point for point with the Comets until Heesch put them in set point at 27-26. A huge service ace from Cassidy Keller (SR/Canistota, SD) would push the Saints to 28-26 and give them the 2-0 match advantage.

The Third set would be a dog fight as each serve would present a long rally between both teams. Defense would highlight the third set as both teams had no quit as they set drew on. The Saints and the Comets would tie the set at 16 and 17 before MSU gained enough momentum to finish PC 25-20, still trailing behind the Saints one match to two.

In the 4^th set the comets would match the Saints at 2, 3 and 5 before the Saints went on a 5 point rally leading the match 11-6. Presentation would near victory as they led the comets 20-11 but MSU would fight back and rally for 5 straight points closing the gap 16-20. Makynna Snow (SO/Galt, CA) and Heesch would give the Saints their final points of the match, despite the Saints attack they drop to the Comets 26-24 in the fourth set, pushing the match to a fifth and final set to decide the match.

The Comets would jump out to an early lead over the Saints with a heavy attack. Despite the Saints counterattack they are only able to cut the MSU lead to 3…