Women’s Volleyball Defeated by Defending NE10 Champion Bentley

COLCHESTER, Vt. – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team opened its home slate against defending Northeast-10 Conference Championship titlist Bentley University on Saturday with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-18) loss in the Ross Sports Center. The Falcons also qualified for the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (1-5, 0-3 NE10), Bentley (7-6, 3-0 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• Sophomore Caitlin O’Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 9 kills, .438 hitting
• Senior Abby Gallagher (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake Regional), 6 kills, 6 digs
• Junior Brigid Heinrich (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill), 6 kills
• Junior Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), 5 kills, .444 hitting
• First-year Sydney Krause (Saginaw, Mich./Valley Lutheran), 14 assists, 3 blocks
• First-year Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 12 assists, 12 digs
• First-year Syrah Wright (Richmond, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union), 8 digs
• First-year Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame), 6 digs, 2 aces
• Junior Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]), 4 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Ellie Wheeler, 15 kills
• Junior Ingrid Murphy, 7 kills, 6 digs
• Sophomore Kiara Mayes, 19 assists
• Senior Amanda Parker, 15 assists
• Sophomore Angie Grabmeier, 12 digs, 5 aces

MATCH FACTS

• Saint Michael’s played its latest home opener since Oct. 8, 1988.
• Six Purple Knights made their home debuts, as did second-year head coach Jeanne Nauheimer Dorf ’09.
• Saint Michael’s yielded narrow edges to Bentley in hitting (.202-.180), digs (39-36) and blocks (5-4).
• The Purple Knights outhit Bentley, .379-.312, during the opening set, while the third set featured 11 ties and seven lead changes. The teams played through 19 ties across the match.

THE ACTION

• O’Connor’s kill gave the Purple Knight an 8-6 lead during the opening set, matching the largest lead for either team to that point, before senior Shannon Ngo had two aces in a 6-1 response for the visitors. Heinrich’s kill brought the hosts within 13-12, but Wheeler posted two kills in a 4-0 counter. After trailing 17-12, the Purple and Gold trimmed its deficit to two points on three occasions, including 24-22, before Wheeler’s kill clinched the set.
• Back-to-back Curley kills knotted the teams at 5-5 in set No. 2, and a Falcon error made it 6-6 before the visitors tallied a 9-2 run behind three Wheeler kills. Gallagher and Heinrich dropped kills…