The Belles are looking to snap a seven-game losing streak as they prepare to take on Adrian in their second to last game of the regular season.
Saint Mary's (7-16, 5-9 MIAA) most recent loss came at the hands of No. 15-ranked Hope. The Flying Dutch (21-4, 12-1 MIAA) put a damper on the Belles' last home match of the season and did not allow them to score more than 13 points in any of the three sets.
Hope also made history by setting a school three-set record for attack percentage, recording 42 kills on 71 attempts with just two errors for a .563 attack percentage.
Belles coach Toni Kuschel acknowledged Hope's high skill level.
"Hope is a very tough, talented team," she said. "We needed to win the serving and passing game if we wanted to compete with them, which we were not able to do Saturday."
Kuschel said her team is not discouraged by their recent results, and they look forward to trying to end their season on a positive note.
"We have a chance to win the last two matches of our season," she said. "We are looking forward to playing two good teams in our conference well and to the best of our ability."
Adrian will be the first of those two teams. The Bulldogs (7-19. 4-9 MIAA) suffered a 3-0 loss to the Belles on Sept. 24. The Belles hope for a similar outcome this time around.
"We will need to play at the level we are capable of [in order to beat Adrian]," Kuschel said. "We will need to serve them aggressively and run our offense. Our hitters will need to do a good job of putting the ball away consistently."
Kuschel said she is confident in her team's resiliency.
"We need to bounce back from a very tough, competitive week of volleyball," she said. "We are capable to play at a much higher level than we did this weekend."
Saint Mary's will have a chance to bounce back when it plays Adrian on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Contact Laura Coletti at
lcoletti@nd.edu
