Volleyball team drops four-set match to Saint Mary’s

The Olivet College volleyball team dropped a tough four-set match to Saint Mary’s (Ind.) College at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet. After losing the first set, 26-24, the Belles rallied to win the next three sets, 27-25, 25-20 and 31-29 for the come-from-behind win.

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Team Stats

Volleyball team drops four-set match to Saint Mary’s
September 11, 2013

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College volleyball team dropped a tough four-set match to Saint Mary's (Ind.) College at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet. After losing the first set, 26-24, the Belles rallied to win the next three sets, 27-25, 25-20 and 31-29 for the come-from-behind win.

The first set was back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than two points. With the score tied at 24-24, senior Tina Westendorp (Nashville/Maple Valley) served an ace to put the Comets ahead up a point and then a bad set by Saint Mary's provided the winning point.

Olivet had a 17-9 lead in the second set. The Belles answered with a 9-1 run to tie the set at 18-18. The Comets came back to take a 24-22 lead but Saint Mary's responded with three straight points to take a 25-24 lead. Olivet tied the score at 25-25 before the Belles used a kill and a Comet attack error to steal the set.

Saint Mary's led the third set from start-to-finish. Olivet led the fourth set until the Belles tied it for the first time at 20-20. The teams continued to trade points, which caused nine more tied scores. After that tie, the Comets had two attack errors, which allowed Saint Mary's to escape with the four-set match.

For the match, Olivet had a season-high 59 kills. Freshman Cassie Brown (Lansing/Lansing Catholic) led the way with a personal single-match high 20 kills. She had four attack errors on 45 attempts for a .356 hitting percentage. Senior Stefanie Lang (Valparaiso, Ind.) and Westendorp also reached double figures in kills with 12 and 11, respectively.

Lang also recorded six blocks, while sophomore Marissa Guille (Williamston) had seven blocks, including three solo. Westendorp served up four aces. Freshman Danielle Bearden (Goodrich) dished out 38 set assists. Senior Megan Vandervlucht (McBain) topped the back row with 17 digs.

The Comets (2-7, 1-3 MIAA) will travel to Greencastle, Ind., to participate in the DePauw (Ind.) University Classic Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Olivet plays Marietta (Ohio) College at 4 p.m., and the host Tigers at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the Comets play Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Ind.) at noon and Concordia University Chicago at 2 p.m.