BELOIT, Wis. - After falling in a tight opening set, the Saint Mary's volleyball team took the next three sets to capture a 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-19, 25-13) win at Beloit on Friday night.

 

The first set featured six ties and four lead changes as neither side held larger than a four-point advantage. With the Belles trailing 18-17, Caroline Carens put down back-to-back kills before Mia Shields added a kill for a 20-18 lead. Cali Allen added a kill two points later, and a bad set by the Buccaneers put the Belles up 22-19. Saint Mary's went ahead set-point at 24-23 on a Beloit miscue, but the Buccaneers capitalized on hitting errors by the Belles late to take a 26-24 win in the opening stanza.

 

Saint Mary's got out to an early lead in the second set. While Beloit pulled within a point at 9-8, the Belles responded with short scoring spurts to keep the Buccaneers at bay. A three-point push off kills by Shay Theile and a Beloit attack error followed by a four-point spurt a short while later gave Saint Mary's an 18-11 lead. Beloit made it a six-point difference twice in the late moments of the set before a Theile kill and a Beloit bad set gave the Belles the 25-16 win. Theile posted an .800 attack effort with eight kills on ten attempts in the set.

 

The host Buccaneers took a 6-2 lead quickly in the third set, but the Belles countered by outscoring Beloit 9-2 over the next stretch of play for an 11-8 lead. Saint Mary's was quick to get a sideout opportunity when they lost the serve over the next stretch to gain a 16-10 advantage. The Buccaneers, however, pulled within two points on three occasions - the latest coming at 19-17 - to prevent the Belles from running away with the set. A kill by Caroline Carens helped regain momentum, and back-to-back Cali Allen kills late put the Belles up 23-18. Theile capped off the win in the set with a kill for the 25-19 decision.

 

Saint Mary's came out swinging and did not stop in the fourth stanza as the Belles posted a .424 attack percentage. The Belles took the opening four points and never trailed while maintaining at least a three-point lead over Beloit. With Saint Mary's up 13-10, the set-shifting and match-deciding run was kicked off with a solo block by Shay Theile. Mia Shields added a kill, and Theile stuffed another solo block before putting down back-to-back kills. An attack error by Beloit was followed by consecutive kills by Kennedy Oselka as the Saint Mary's lead grew to 21-10. A quick run by Beloit was shut down by two more kills by Oselka as the Belles captured the set 25-13 for the four-set victory on the road.

 

Shay Theile put away a career-high 18 kills after hitting .366 on the night. The junior added two aces, two solo blocks, a block assist, and five digs in the win. Caroline Carens added 15 kills on a .393 hittinger effort. Cali Allen put away 10 kills and picked up 13 digs for a double-double. Kennedy Oselka posted five kills, two aces, and 15 digs, and Mia Shields led all players with 16 digs, which ties her career-high mark. Bethany DiSilvestro added 14 digs, and Shani Russell posted 41 assists with eight digs and two block assists. 

 

The Belles (4-5) begin conference play on Tuesday when they travel to Kalamazoo for a 7:00 p.m. match against the Hornets.