Women’s Volleyball Stays Close with Saint Rose During Senior Day Setback

COLCHESTER, Vt. – The Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball team stayed close with Northeast-10 Conference foe The College of Saint Rose during a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-20) Senior Day loss on Tuesday evening in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights honored seniors Jaeden Cruz (Makakilo, Hawaii/Saint Francis School) and Abby Gallagher (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake Regional) during a pre-match ceremony.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael’s (1-13, 0-10 NE10), Saint Rose (8-18, 2-10 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS

• Gallagher, 8 kills, 6 digs, 3 assists
• Cruz, 2 aces, 2 assists
• First-year Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 15 assists, 11 digs, 4 kills
• Junior Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]), 7 kills
• Sophomore Caitlin O’Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 6 kills
• First-year Syrah Wright (Richmond, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union), 9 digs, 3 assists, 2 aces
• First-year Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame), 9 digs
• First-year Sydney Krause (Saginaw, Mich./Valley Lutheran), 7 assists
• Junior Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury), 5 kills, 2 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• First-year Karleigh Fripp, 7 kills, .462 hitting
• Senior Cassidy Smith, 7 kills
• First-year Ava Garrelts, 7 kills
• First-year Jennah Kareem, 6 kills, 5 digs
• First-year Emma Strefling, 15 assists, 7 digs
• Sophomore Allison Sellers, 14 assists, 3 aces, 3 kills
• Junior Gabriela Boyrié, 18 digs, 5 assists

MATCH FACTS

• Both teams dropped seven aces, while Saint Rose held narrow edges in kills (38-33), digs (49-47) and blocks (3-2).
• The match featured 21 ties and 12 lead changes.

THE ACTION

• The Purple Knights led 2-0 early in the first set behind Báez Rentas’ kill and first-year Jillian Orth‘s (Bourne, Mass./Bourne) ace before four of the next five points went to the Golden Knights. Huihui-Martinez’s ace keyed a go-ahead 3-0 run, and the hosts led 12-7 on Krause’s kill. Still up 13-8, the Purple Knights saw Saint Rose counter with a 12-2 stretch, as Fripp turned in three kills. A Gallagher kill, Curley and Gallagher tandem block, and Wright ace accounted for a 3-0 run that brought Saint Michael’s within 20-18, but junior Megan Mayer’s kill kicked off a 3-0 response, and the visitors never again led by fewer than three points.
• Consecutive kills by Garrelts and Sellers gave the Golden Knights an 8-3 advantage in set No. 2 before the Purple Knights used an 11-4 jaunt to go in…