This past weekend, Saint Mary’s played three matches against tough competition and was able to walk away with three wins, moving the Belles to 11-0 on the season and continuing their perfect start. The Belles defeated Dominican and Beloit with 3-0 wins, but had a close game against Grinnell where they snuck away with a 3-2 win. Across the weekend, sophomore outside hitter Kalli Lewkowski led her team in kills with 28, sophomore setter Giuliana Graczyk led the Belles with 55 assists and 31 digs and freshman outside hitter and defensive specialist Shannon Rudge led with 11 aces. Another big contributor for the Belles this past weekend was junior middle hitter Caroline Carens, who was an explosive player able to control the net, showing her significant impact even without needing to rack up the most kills on the team. Carens scored a total of 37 points on offense for her team, and Rudge was able to score 38 points for her team with her combined efforts on offense and defense.
The match against Beloit was also special as head coach Denise Van de Walle allowed some of the newer players to get court time. Sophomore defensive specialist Katerina Rigan saw the court again for the first time since their match against Benedictine on Sept. 3. Freshman defensive specialist Lexi Szymanski also earned some playing time and made the most of it, earning seven digs. Additionally, freshman setter Maddie Taitano got court time again for the first time since the Sept. 12 match against Manchester, garnering one kill and two digs for the Belles.
Despite a long weekend of play, Saint Mary’s was extremely successful and is looking to carry that success into their game at home on Sept. 24 against Olivet. The Belles are a team with very high volleyball IQ, which is an explanation for how they’ve been so successful this season. The players understand what shots to make that can put the other team out of system, the setters do an impeccable job running an unpredictable offense that is a challenge for many teams to read and they are able to keep their passes in-system to ensure they are able to use all their options for any play. Despite their high IQ, Saint Mary’s has struggled slightly with closing out inferior opponents in straight sets. The Belles are currently 10-1 in the first set, yet consistently struggle to close the subsequent sets, causing many matches to go at least four sets. A big reason for this comes from playing tighter once they gain an early lead, allowing opponents to grab the momentum and ultimately win a set.
Olivet College is 4-9 on the year so far but, despite their losing record, rosters pivotal players that have put up big numbers for the team. Freshman outside hitter Payton Smith leads her team with 139 kills on the season and has scored a total of 149 points so far. Junior middle hitter Julia Hall has 91 kills and has scored 123 points on the season. The team overall has a total of 790 digs on the year, averaging about 16.81 per set, and a total of 68 blocks with an average of 1.45 per set. With Olivet’s slightly stronger statistics, the Belles will have to use their momentum from the weekend for their intense matchup.
First serve is at 7 p.m. inside of Angela Athletic and Wellness Center.
