The Belles are moving into the second leg of their conference schedule on a positive note. Saint Mary's stopped a three-game losing streak by knocking off MIAA opponent Olivet at home in straight sets Sunday.Behind the performance of players like outside hitter Kristen Playko, who led the team in kills, service aces and digs, the Belles (9-6, 2-5 in MIAA) exercised a bit of frustration on an outmatched Comets (3-11, 0-5) squad, defeating them by a score of 30-24, 30-26, 30-13.The 13 points allowed by the Belles in the third game are the fewest the team has given up in a non-tiebreaker game (which only goes to 15 points) the past two seasons. "We really went into that match expecting to win," junior middle hitter Elise Rupright said. "We went in knowing that we were the better team and really didn't expect anything other than a win in three."If anything, we were upset we didn't hold them to even fewer points in all three games."Playko, who has been a standout for the Belles this year, had another great game by collecting 18 kills, 15 digs and five service aces. Freshman teammate Ann Carpenter was close behind with 16 kills. "[Belles coach] Julie [Schroeder-Biek] has really been trying to bring in some talented athletes," Rupright said. "Kristen's been strong all year, but Ann's really starting to come on now that she's getting used to things. They're just really performing for us."The Belles also had one of their best hitting performances in a long time, with a .407 hitting percentage for the three games. "On the outside they had one blocker, and they gave us a lot to shoot around because they had a short setter," Rupright said. "We did very well with our hitting percentage."Saint Mary's finishes a three game conference home stand, which saw the Belles go 1-2. The Belles remain home Tuesday to face non-conference opponent Manchester.Note:u Playko was named the MIAA Player of the Week after double-double (kills/digs) performances in each of three conference matches last week. For the week, she averaged 5.45 kills, 3.91 digs and 0.73 aces per game. Carpenter was also nominated for the honor.
