Belles Drop 3-1 Decision to Scots

Box Score

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - A handful of big runs by the visiting Scots led Alma to a 3-1 (25-16, 21-25, 25-15, 25-19) win over the Saint Mary's volleyball team on Wednesday evening.

In the opening set, the Scots rattled off the first five points of the contest before the Belles closed the gap at 6-5. Alma, however, went on to score the next eight points to push their lead to 14-5. Saint Mary's was determined not to go quietly in the first set. Facing set-point at 24-13, the Belles had three straight kills before dropping the opener 25-16.

Riding off the momentum of the closing points of the first set, Saint Mary's was able to jump out to a 4-1 lead. The Belles pushed ahead to a 9-5 lead, forcing the Scots to call a timeout. Alma then came out of that break to score five consecutive points and go up 10-9. Both teams then battled back and forth as the set saw ties at 10-10, 11-11, 13-13, 15-15, 16-16, 18-18, 19-19, and 20-20. After the Scots used their second time out of the set trailing 21-20, Saint Mary's had a kill, took advantage of an attack error by Alma, and tallied a service ace to go up 24-20. While Alma was able to get a point back, Kati Schneider put the set away for the Belles with a kill for the 25-21 decision in the second frame.

The Scots then opened up the third set by scoring the first 10 points before Christi Wyble and Emily Getz came up with a block for the Belles. From that point on, the two teams each scored 15 points and the Belles were unable to overcome that initial deficit. Saint Mary's got within four points at 12-8 and again at 19-15, but four more kills and three fewer hitting errors by Alma proved to be enough of a difference as the Scots went up two sets to one.

The fourth set saw nine ties and six lead changes take place between the two teams. Alma, however, used one of their runs to break a 15-15 tie and turn it into a 20-15 lead. The Belles edged back into striking distance at 20-17, but a service error, a blocked attack attempt, and a kill saw Alma go up 23-17 before taking the fourth set 25-19.

Kati Schneider shared match-high honors with 13 kills on the night while also adding 13 digs for the Belles. Stephanie Bodien was right behind Schneider with 12 kills of her own and 10 digs. Meghann Rose had a match-high 28 digs on the night and two service aces. Danie Brink added 38 assists and 15 digs. Rounding out the double-digit dig efforts on the night was Annie Bodien, who had 13 of the Belles' 82 digs.

The Belles (2-6, 1-3 MIAA) have nearly a week off to prepare for their next match when they travel to Trine. The match between the in-state conference rivals will take place Tuesday, September 20 beginning at 7:00 p.m.