Women’s Volleyball Begins NE10 Play with 3-2 Setback to Assumption

COLCHESTER, Vt. – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team began Northeast-10 Conference play with a 3-2 (26-28, 25-23, 25-27, 25-19, 18-16) loss to Assumption University on Saturday in the Ross Sports Center. The evenly-matched teams played through 64 ties and 32 lead changes.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (1-8, 0-1 NE10), Assumption (1-2, 1-0 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• Sophomore Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 48 assists, 22 digs, 4 kills
• First-year Ella Patterson (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago), 15 kills, 13 digs, 3 aces, 3 blocks
• Junior Haley Stanton (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North), 12 kills, 2 blocks
• Senior Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]), 11 kills, 2 blocks, .348 hitting
• First-year Dana Welch (Howell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), 11 kills
• Senior Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), 9 kills, .400 hitting, 5 blocks
• Sophomore Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame), 15 digs, 5 assists
• Senior Maddie Van Winkle (Medford, Mass./Arlington Catholic), 12 digs
• Sophomore Syrah Wright (Richmond, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union), 10 digs, 3 assists

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Alexis Distasio, 21 kills, 8 digs, 3 aces
• Sophomore Carly Goodhue, 17 kills, .389 hitting
• Sophomore Anna Dean, 13 kills, 18 digs, 3 aces
• Senior Kyra Belden, 34 assists
• Junior Brandi Montoya, 19 digs

MATCH FACTS

• The Purple Knights held leads in attack percentage (.182-.175), digs (83-78) and blocks (9-5).
• The match featured 64 ties and 32 lead swings.

THE ACTION

• The teams played through 14 ties in the opening set, with Assumption leading 22-17 and 23-19 before Curley’s kill made it 23-22. Distasio’s kill brought the Greyhounds to set point, at 24-22, but Curley wrapped two kills around a visitor error to push the Purple Knights into a 25-24 lead. Dean twice provided tying kills, but Patterson’s kill created a 27-26 lead, and an error gave the hosts the set.
• Fifteen more ties and nine lead changes ensued in the second set, and the Purple and Gold trailed 23-21 before Curley and Patterson combined for a block, and an error tied the score. However, Dean responded with a kill before Goodhue dropped another kill for the winner.
• Set No. 3 included 19 ties and 10 lead changes, with neither team leading by more than two points until the hosts rattled off a 4-0 run to snag a 23-19 lead. Assumption countered with the next five points, but Welch’s kill leveled the score at 24. Distasio again gave her team a…