The Olivet College Comets cooled off Saint Mary's yesterday by defeating them in four games. For the Belles, this marked their fourth consecutive conference loss in a row. Saint Mary's finished the year 5-11 in the MIAA and currently resides in seventh place in the league.
The Comets came out strong in the first game and downed the Belles by a score of 30-27. Saint Mary's was able to regroup in the second game and easily won 30-23. But after losing to Saint Mary's in three straight games earlier in the season, Olivet did not let up and beat the Belles in the next two games by scores of 30-24 and 30-22.
The victory was only the Comet's third conference win of the year and places them at 8-22 overall.
The offense struggled to put points on the board all match long.
Despite this difficulty, Michelle Turley once again dominated for the Belles as she posted 16 kills. But this wasn't enough to beat Olivet.
A number of Belles also played well on defensive. Anne Cusack led the team with 18 digs followed by Shelly Bender's 16 digs. Amanda David recorded another 13 herself and Stephanie Bauer added 12 to finish the contest.
The comets ended the game with 18 more kills than Saint Mary's and had almost 40 more digs than the Belles.
Even with the skid at the end of the year, the Belles still know that they some games left to play before the tournament begins.
Saint Mary's is now 5-14 overall and they have dropped six of their last seven games.
With the MIAA tournament beginning in less than a week the Belles will be looking to finish their season on a strong note.
"We all had obstacles to overcome this season, the coaching staff included," said Turley. "But since our season is coming to an end, it's time to put it all behind us and give these last games our all."
The Belles will take the court again today at 7 p.m. as they travel to Manchester College.
Last year, Saint Mary's upended the Spartans in four games to capture the win.
In the game, strong play by Elise Rupright and Cusack helped the Belles to victory.
The team will need both of them again if they hope to win. Manchester is currently 10-13 on the season and should be a good test for the struggling Belles.
