WALTHAM, Mass. - The seventh-seeded Saint Michael's College women's volleyball team was eliminated by No. 2 Bentley University, 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-11), in a Northeast-10 Conference Championship quarterfinal on Tuesday in the Dana Center. The Falcons were the top-ranked team in the latest NCAA East Region poll.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (8-17), Bentley (21-5)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions), 20 assists, 5 digs, 2 kills
• Junior Dana Welch (Howell, N.J./Donovan Catholic), 9 kills
• Sophomore Grace Almeida (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), 7 kills, .600 hitting
• Sophomore Kyla Farnan (Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle), 9 digs
• First-year Nora Schulze (Hingham, Mass./Hingham), 3 kills
• First-year D'Niaya Settles (Ames, Iowa/Ames), 3 kills

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Natalie Thom, 7 aces, 4 digs
• Senior Rachel Vitko, 8 kills
• Junior Elizabeth Blinn, 6 kills, .667 hitting
• First-year Sophia Poehlein, 12 kills, .632 hitting
• First-year Tory Vitko, 29 assists

MATCH FACTS

• The teams met in the postseason for the first time.
• Saint Michael's made an NE10 Championship appearance for the second straight year, making a return trip to its regular-season-finale opponent for the second season in a row.
• The Purple Knights had last qualified for playoffs in consecutive seasons while appearing each fall between 1990 and 1995.
• The Purple and Gold finished the season with 1,578 digs, good for fifth in program history, and the most since 2012.
• Almeida's .346 hitting percentage this year was good for fourth in program history, the best by a Purple Knight since Candace Washington '16 in 2015 (.348).
• Farnan's 50 aces placed her ninth in school annals, with the most since Katie Walsh '13 in 2011 (58).
• Schulze was 10th in program history with 264 kills this year, the most by a Purple Knight since Washington in 2015 (271).
• Báez Rentas completed her career fifth in program history in both career assists (2,095) and digs (1,057) as the only player in the 2,000/1,000 club.

THE ACTION

• Welch dropped kills for her team's first two points of the opening set en route to a 3-3 tie, but Rachel Vitko had two kills in an ensuing 5-0 run. Bentley maintained a lead of no fewer than five points until Welch's kill brought her team within 18-15 before the Falcons came out of a timeout with a 4-0 run, keyed by two Poehlein kills. The Purple Knights never trimmed the deficit to fewer than six points from there.
• Almeida's kill produced her team's opening point in the second set, and the visitors were down 6-3 following a Bentley attack error. The Falcons countered with a 10-2 run during which Thom had three aces. Back-to-back Welch kills made it 21-13, but Saint Michael's came no closer.
• Almeida dropped a kill to cut the Purple Knights' hole to 6-4 in set No. 3 before her team twice made it a one-point contest, but Bentley scored 18 of the final 23 points, with Thom's three straight aces closing the match.