The Belles fell short Wednesday night, losing to Olivet 3-1 as Saint Mary's failed to avenge an early season loss to the Comets.
Saint Mary's (4-15, 2-8 MIAA) suffered its ninth loss in ten matches. Despite the loss, Belles coach Toni Kuschel was encouraged by the team's performance.
"We had a great match up against Olivet this evening," she said. "However, we came up short in the end. I was really happy with our defense. We had four players with double digit digs, with junior Meg Rose leading the way with 25 and senior Ellen Hueslman with 22."
The Belles will have three matches over Fall Break next week. On Oct. 19, they will host No. 4 Calvin. The Belles lost a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-18) decision to Calvin in their only meeting this season in one of the Belles' best-played matches so far this season. In order to prepare for the Knights a second time around, Kuschel said Saint Mary's has been switching up their game plan.
"We will be working on moving a few people around in practice this week to work in a faster offense in hopes of beating out their strong block," Kuschel said. "We will need to continue to play great defense and win the serving and passing game."
Saint Mary's will travel to Kalamazoo on Friday, Oct. 22. The Belles dropped a 3-1 (25-10, 16-25, 25-12, 31-29) decision to Kalamazoo earlier this season in the midst of a seven game losing streak. In the marathon fourth set, there were 16 ties and six lead changes.
The Belles will quickly travel home to host Alma on Oct. 23. They fell 3-0 (25-12, 25-7, 25-18) in their first match against the Scots in September.
Calvin, Alma and Kalamazoo are currently ranked first, third and fourth in the MIAA standings, respectively. The Belles will be hoping to make up ground in the conference before the MIAA Tournament starts in early November.
