Women’s Volleyball Begins Season with Pair of Losses at Saint Anselm Tournament

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team opened the 2022 season with a pair of competitive setbacks during the Saint Anselm College/Southern New Hampshire University Invitational on Saturday at Saint Anselm’s Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. The Purple Knights lost to the host Hawks, 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 26-24), before falling against D’Youville (N.Y.) College, 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 25-14, 19-25, 15-13). Saint Anselm was ninth in last year’s final NCAA East Region rankings.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (0-2), Saint Anselm (2-0), D’Youville (1-0)

Saint Anselm Match
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• Sophomore Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 17 assists, 11 digs, 2 aces
• Sophomore Syrah Wright (Richmond, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union), 8 digs, 2 aces
• Junior Caitlin O’Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 6 kills
• Junior Haley Stanton (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North), 4 kills
• First-year Dana Welch (Howell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), 4 kills
• First-year Ella Patterson (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago), 6 digs
• Senior Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), 2 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Gabby Belcher, 13 kills, .478 hitting, 2 blocks
• Senior Colleen Chen, 6 kills, .429 hitting
• First-year Abigail Macalaguim, 18 assists, 5 aces, 6 digs
• Senior Caroline Belmontez, 13 digs

MATCH FACTS

• Saint Anselm held a slim 46-41 edge in digs.

THE ACTION

• Saint Anselm forged an 11-1 lead in the opening set, around a Welch kill for Saint Michael’s, and never again led by fewer than seven points.
• Consecutive errors allowed the Purple Knights to rally within 6-3 in the second set before the hosts pushed their lead to 20-6. O’Connor dropped a pair of kills during a 7-3 response, but consecutive Belcher kills ended the set.
• The visitors trailed 7-6 in the third set before scoring the next 10 points, primarily with Wright at the service line. Curley had two kills and a block in that time, O’Connor put down a pair of kills, Wright picked up two aces. Another O’Connor kill made it 18-7, and the Purple and Gold reached set point at 24-17 on Patterson’s kill. However, Belcher turned in three kills and a block in a match-clinching 9-0 response.

D’Youville Match
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• Báez Rentas, 28 assists, 18 digs, 3 kills, 2 blocks
• Wright, 10 digs
• Patterson, 6 kills, 9 digs
• Curley, 6 kills, 5 aces, 4 blocks
• O’Connor, 6 kills
• Welch, 5 kills, 2 blocks
• Stanton, 4 kills
• Sophomore Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame), 16 digs, 7 assists, 3…