Belles Soar on Senior Night Against Brits
Saint Mary's Stories
- Meaghan Gibbons led all players with 15 kills.
- Rachel Bonek had seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage, and Colleen Kilgallon added seven kills.
- The Belles had their best hitting percentage of the season with a .308.
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's volleyball team posted their best hitting percentage of the season with a .308 on their way to a dominant 3-0 (25-22, 25-9, 25-7) win over Albion on Senior Night on Friday.
Both teams were evenly matched throughout the first set of play. The Belles went ahead 8-4 only to see the Brits claim six of the next seven points to go up 10-9. Saint Mary's responded with a 6-1 run to regain a 15-11 advantage. The Brits chipped away at deficit before the lead changed hands yet again. A 5-0 run by Albion put the guests up 18-17, but that lead was short-lived as a Saint Mary's 5-0 run lifted the Belles to a 22-18 lead. Albion kept the set alive late with a kill and a block, but Saint Mary's capitalized on an attack error to claim the 25-22 opening set win.
The second set was all Belles from start to finish as Saint Mary's stormed out to a huge 10-0 lead. The Belles never looked back en route to a 25-9 second set win. Fourteen of the 25 points scored by the Belles came via kill in the second set. The home side hit .387 (14 kills, two errors, 31 attempts) while limiting the guests to a -.132 effort (three kills, eight errors, 38 attempts) to sway the momentum fully in favor of Saint Mary's.
That momentum spilled over into the third set for the Belles. Albion was unable to score more multiple points in a row during any given stretch, and the offensive effort for Saint Mary's was unstoppable. The Belles hit a staggering .538 - 14 kills with no errors on 26 attempts - on their way to a lopsided 25-7 win in the third stanza to close out the victory. During the Belles' 8-0 run late in the set, Morgan Klein had four kills on four attempts with a service ace by Meaghan Gibbons sandwiched between. A few points later, Colleen Kilgallon put down a kill, Leah Buck had a solo block, and Buck and Klein teamed up for a double block to end the match.
Meaghan Gibbons led all players with 15 kills as the Belles hit over .300 for the second time this season to secure the sweep and their tenth conference win of the year. Rachel Bonek had seven kills with no errors on 14 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage, and Colleen Kilgallon added seven kills for the Belles. Kaylin Szucs registered 21 digs to lead all players. Alexis Grady had a double-double with 26 assists and 11 digs. Four different players contributed to at least two blocks each, and four players had at least one service ace.
The Belles (14-13, 10-5 MIAA) look to match the program's all-time record for conference wins in a season when they travel to Trine for their regular season finale on Saturday. The match begins at 1:00 p.m.