COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's volleyball team opened Northeast-10 Conference play by losing three two-point decisions to Southern New Hampshire University in a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 29-27, 30-28) setback on Tuesday evening in the Ross Sports Center. The Penmen won the 2022 NCAA East Regional Tournament to qualify for the national Elite 8.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (2-6, 0-1 NE10), Southern New Hampshire (6-7, 1-2 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]), 15 kills, 2 blocks, .577 hitting
• First-year Grace Almeida (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), 13 kills, 5 digs, 4 blocks, 2 aces, .360 hitting
• Sophomore Dana Welch (Howell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), 11 kills, 2 aces
• Sophomore Ella Patterson (Folsom, Calif./Vista Del Lago), 10 kills, 12 digs, 3 blocks
• Senior Caitlin O'Connor (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 10 kills
• Junior Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 47 assists, 20 digs, 6 kills, 4 aces
• First-year Kyla Farnan (Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle), 19 digs, 9 assists, 2 aces
• First-year Katarina Mladenovic (Chicago, Ill./Maine South), 9 digs
• Junior Jillian Orth (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 7 digs

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Redshirt senior Ana Pimenta, 12 kills, 13 digs, 6 blocks
• Graduate student Alessandra Peli, 11 kills, 8 blocks
• First-year Katalin Kovacs, 19 assists
• Sophomore Ella Koelb, 18 assists

MATCH FACTS

• The Purple and Gold held sizeable advantages in kills (66-49), assists (61-41), aces (12-7), digs (77-62) and points (84.0-69.0).
• Saint Michael's had five players reach double figures in kills for the first time since Oct. 25, 2008, against The College of Saint Rose.
• Syverson's hitting percentage was the highest by a Purple Knight since Allie Statile '20 swung .650 on Sept. 13, 2019, against Salem (W.Va.) University, and the best in an NE10 affair since Lindsey Frazier '11 hit .579 on Oct. 10, 2009, versus former league mate Stonehill College.
• The Purple Knights returned to action for the first time since Sept. 22.
• Saint Michael's played its latest home opener since 1988 (Oct. 8).

THE ACTION

• Almeida's kill and ace sparked a 4-0 run that gave the hosts a 7-3 lead in the opening set, and another kill by Almeida made it 14-12. The Penmen countered with the next three points, but the Purple Knights used a 4-0 stretch to lead 23-21, with Welch notching a pair of kills. However, the visitors scored the final four points.
• Báez Rentas started set No. 2 with three straight aces en route to Saint Michael's leading 7-1 on O'Connor's kill. Southern New Hampshire wiped out deficits of at least five points three times to tie, and Pimenta's kill forced a knot at 20 apiece. Syverson turned in consecutive kills to give the hosts the lead for good, as each of their final five points came on her kills.
• O'Connor and Welch each had two kills during a 7-2 run that began the third set, but Pimenta later had two kills in a 7-1 stretch that gave the Penmen their first lead, 13-12. On the strength of two Patterson kills, Saint Michael's put together a 6-0 run to snag a 22-18 advantage and twice held match point (24-22, 27-26), but the visitors closed the set with three straight points, as senior Claire Wohlleber was half of tandem blocks on each of the final two points.
• Southern New Hampshire led 6-1 in the fourth set following Pimenta's kill, but the Purple and Gold slowly chipped away to tie the teams at 22 when Farnan posted a pair of aces in a 4-0 run. Saint Michael's fought off five match points down the stretch, and Patterson turned in a pair of kills in a 3-0 stretch that gave her team a 25-24 lead for her team's lone set point. In a 28-all set, the Penmen scored the final two points on errors.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S MATCH

• Saturday vs. Bentley University, 1 p.m.
• The Purple Knights will host a Breast Cancer Awareness Match that day.
• The Falcons qualified for the 2022 NCAA Tournament.