COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's volleyball team won the final three sets to rally past Franklin Pierce University, 3-1 (19-25, 25-12, 25-19, 25-19), on Tuesday evening in the Ross Sports Center and clinch a spot in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (8-15, 4-5 NE10), Franklin Pierce (2-18, 0-10 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 40 assists, 11 digs, 2 aces, 2 blocks
• Senior Brynn Bertucci (Beverly, Mass./Bishop Fenwick), 3 kills, 3 blocks
• Senior Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame), 10 digs, 5 aces
• Senior Jillian Orth (Bourne, Mass./Bourne), 9 digs, 3 aces
• Junior Dana Welch (Howell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), 8 kills, 2 blocks
• Sophomore Grace Almeida (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), 13 kills, 3 blocks, .545 hitting
• Sophomore Kyla Farnan (Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle), 23 digs, 2 aces
• Sophomore Ashley Marshall (Escondido, Calif./Escondido Charter), 5 assists
• First-year Nora Schulze (Hingham, Mass./Hingham), 11 kills
• First-year D'Niaya Settles (Ames, Iowa/Ames), 14 kills, 3 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Kori Garnhart, 13 digs
• Junior Katholiki Koukia, 9 kills, 13 digs
• Junior Avery LeBlanc, 7 kills, 8 digs
• Junior Annaka Lindstrom, 26 assists, 13 digs

MATCH FACTS

• As the Purple Knights continue rebuilding under second-year head coach Lauren Brough, the program's first full-time coach, they have won at least four NE10 matches in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1993 and 1994 while ensuring themselves of consecutive playoff appearances for the first time since a six-year run between 1990 and 1995.
• Farnan moved into a tie for ninth in program history with 49 aces this season. She is the first Purple Knight to crack the top 10 since Katie Walsh '13 had 58 in 2011.
• Saint Michael's defeated the Ravens for the first time since Oct. 8, 2013.
• The Purple Knights held decisive leads in kills (50-34) and aces (13-6) while trimming Franklin Pierce in digs (66-59) and blocks (7-5).

THE ACTION

• Nine of the match's 13 ties and five of its seven lead swings occurred in the opening set. After Schulze's kill made it 14-14, the Ravens rattled off three straight points, capped by a Koukia kill, and the lead grew to 21-16 on senior Avery Theriault's kill. Saint Michael's crept within 22-19 on Farnan's ace before the visitors scored the final three points.
• Behind the strong service of Huihui-Martinez, the Purple Knights turned a 3-2 edge in the second set into a commanding 13-2 lead, with Settles posting two kills and a block and Almeida a kill and two blocks during the 10-0 run. The Ravens never closed the gap to fewer than 10 points.
• In an 8-8 set No. 3, Almeida's kill sparked a 6-1 run, and Franklin Pierce never again trailed by fewer than four points.
• Huihui-Martinez's ace pushed the Purple Knights' lead to 9-2 in the fourth set, and Báez Rentas' ace made it 14-4. The visitors rallied within four points twice in the late stages, including at 23-19, but Schulze followed with a kill before Almeida and Báez Rentas combined for a clinching block.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S MATCH

• Friday at Bentley University, 6 p.m.