Belles Battle Past Spartans

Box Score

• Colleen Kilgallon led the Belles with 14 kills on the night while Meaghan Gibbons chipped in 10 kills in the win.
• Leah Buck had a match-high five blocks and added eight kills.
• Kaylin Szucs posted a match-high 21 digs

NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Saint Mary's volleyball team picked up a 3-1 (25-23, 27-29, 25-20, 25-21) win over Manchester University on Wednesday night.

The Belles broke up an 8-8 tie in the opening set with a quick 5-1 scoring spurt to take the lead. The Spartans chipped away and edged their way back into the set late to force an 18-18 tie, but Saint Mary's claimed four of the next five points and did not relinquish the lead late on the way to a 25-23 first set win.

The host Spartans took a five-point lead at 19-14 in a tightly-played second set as the Belles called a timeout to try to stop Manchester's run. With the Spartans up 22-15 a few points later, Saint Mary's came storming back into the set to pull within 22-20. A kill by Manchester a shot while later put the Spartans up set point at 24-22, but the Belles did not go down quietly. A kill by Rachel Bonek and an ace by Meaghan Gibbons knotted the score at 24-24 before the Belles staved off match points again at 25-24 and 26-25. Colleen Kilgallon put down consecutive kills to give Saint Mary's the set-point advantage, but two back-to-back Belles errors followed by an ace gave Manchester the second set in a 29-27 nailbiter.

The third set picked up where the second set left off as the teams saw the score tied on 11 different occasions in the stanza. The Belles took control of the set after the last of those ties. With the score sitting at 15-15, Saint Mary's used a 5-1 run to claim a 20-16 lead. Down the stretch, the Belles held at least a three-point lead on the way to the 25-20 win.

Saint Mary's jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the fourth set, but Manchester fought their way back to tie the score at 10-10. The Belles responded with a run of their own to establish an 18-13 lead. The Spartans cut their deficit to as few as two points, but Saint Mary's continued to find a response before Kilgallon closed out the win with a kill for a 25-21 fourth set and a 3-1 victory.

Colleen Kilgallon led the Belles with 14 kills on the night while Meaghan Gibbons chipped in 10 kills in the win. Leah Buck had a match-high five blocks and added eight kills. McKenzie Todd tallied seven kills while putting up 10 digs. Kaylin Szucs posted a match-high 21 digs, and Clare McMillan registered 30 assists. Alexis Grady added 17 assists and four blocks.

The Belles (1-4) open conference play on Friday, September 9 when they host Adrian at 7:00 p.m. in Angela Athletic Facility.