Women’s Volleyball Opens NE10 Road Weekend with Loss at Southern Connecticut State

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team opened a two-match Northeast-10 Conference weekend road swing by losing at Southern Connecticut State University, 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-16), on Friday in Pelz Gymnasium.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (1-11, 0-8 NE10), Southern Connecticut State (19-8, 5-3 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• First-year Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 7 digs, 4 assists
• Senior Abby Gallagher (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake Regional), 6 kills, 6 digs
• First-year Sydney Krause (Saginaw, Mich./Valley Lutheran), 3 assists, 3 aces, 3 digs
• First-year Syrah Wright (Richmond, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union), 3 digs, 2 assists
• Junior Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), 2 kills, 2 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Gabriela Gaibur, 10 kills, .769 hitting, 7 digs
• Graduate student Abigail Epstein, 9 kills, .643 hitting
• Senior Erika Benson, 8 kills, .462 hitting, 2 blocks
• Sophomore Taylor Jones, 22 assists, 2 aces
• Sophomore Krishnalei So’oto, 8 digs, 2 aces

THE ACTION

• Gallagher, junior Brigid Heinrich (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) and Curley notched kills, Curley combined with sophomore Haley Stanton (Nashua, N.H./Nashua North) on a block, and Krause dropped consecutive aces to give Saint Michael’s a 6-1 lead in the opening set, and the visitors still led 9-5 on Curley’s solo block. Benson had three kills while Epstein notched a pair of aces with one kill in a 14-0 response, kicking off a set-clinching 20-2 stretch.
• Southern Connecticut State led 6-2 in the second set before Heinrich notched a kill to kick off a two-point spurt, but 12 of the next 14 points went to the Owls, with Benson, Epstein and Gaibur posting two kills each. Saint Michael’s got as close as 10, on Gallagher’s kill at 18-8, down the stretch.
• The Purple Knights turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead in set No. 3 on Wright’s ace, and the visitors continued to lead at 7-5 on Gallagher’s kill. Senior Heliceliz Rivera contributed four assists, two blocks and a kill during a 9-0 counter before Saint Michael’s crept within 16-11 on an Owl error. The hosts pushed their lead to nine before Gallagher’s kill and Wright’s ace keyed a 3-0 run, making it 21-15, but Southern Connecticut State scored four of the final five points.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S MATCH

• Saturday at University of New Haven, 7 p.m.
• The Chargers won the NE10 Championship six times since 2008.