HOLLAND, Mich. - The Saint Mary's volleyball team had a 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-13) conference setback against No. 14 ranked Hope on Tuesday evening.

 

Down 2-0 early in the opening set, the Belles used an 8-1 run for an 8-3 lead - capped off by a big block by Shay Theile and Mia Shields - as the Flying Dutch called a timeout. Shields had a pair of kills, Colleen McCarthy served an ace, and Cali Allen put away a kill over that same run for the five-point advantage. Hope came out of that timeout to take the next four points, and the teams matched the efforts of one another over the next stretch of play as the Flying Dutch held a narrow 15-14 lead. Back-to-back points by Hope saw the Belles call a timeout, and Shay Theile responded with a big kill on the next point to make it an 18-15 score. Saint Mary's capitalized on a pair of mistakes to cut the Hope lead to two at 19-17. The Flying Dutch countered with two quick points for a 21-17 lead. After another Saint Mary's timeout, Karla Rigan and Theile put down a double block to keep the Belles within striking distance at 21-18. Hope, however, used three points in-a-row for a 24-18 advantage before taking the opening set 25-19.

 

The Belles had a kill by Grace Braselton, another ace by McCarthy, and a Hope attack error early in the second set to tie the score at 3-3. The Flying Dutch took nine of the next ten points for a 12-4 lead. The Belles used a 5-0 run a short while later to cut the deficit to seven points at 19-12, and Saint Mary's again pulled within seven at 21-14. Each time, Hope responded with multiple points to maintain their lead as the Flying Dutch went on to take the second stanza by a 25-16 margin.

 

A Mia Shields kill put the Belles within a point at 5-4, and a kill by Delaney Martin followed by an attack error by Hope made it a 9-7 score with the Flying Dutch still ahead. Hope distanced themselves with a 6-0 run for a 15-7 lead. After several back-and-forth points, Hope pushed their lead to 19-10 before a big kill by Grace Braselton broke up the run. The deficit, however, was too large for the Belles to overtake down the stretch in the 25-13 final.

 

Mia Shields led Saint Mary's with six kills with a .308 attack percentage. Grace Braselton put away five kills on a .444 hitting effort, and Colleen McCarthy added five kills of her own with two aces. Cali Allen led the team with eight digs while collecting three kills. Courtney Pelletier picked up seven digs, and Emma Watford added five digs and four assists. Remington Vincent put up nine assists, and Karla Rigan collected six assists. 

 

The Belles (3-12, 0-3 MIAA) travel to Trine on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. conference match against the Thunder.