The Belles opened their regular season with a three-set loss to the Maple Leafs of Goshen College, following a scrimmage with the University of Chicago at the SMC Triangular Saturday afternoon.
Despite losing to Goshen in three straight sets, Saint Mary's (0-1) fought with a team-oriented attack far different from what coaches have seen from the Belles in previous years.
"It was nice to have four players in double-digits for digs," Belles coach Julie Schroeder-Biek said. "In years past, it's often been one or two people who have the bulk of our digs."
The Belles kept it close, but lost 24-30, 28-30, 24-30.
"I'm very excited to have come out as strong as we did," Schroeder-Biek said. "We had really good defense, but our hitting percentage (0.087) was not as high as it could be.
"It wasn't so much our errors, though. Goshen was very scrappy, and it was difficult for us to get a kill because they were playing such good defense."
Freshman outside hitter Kristen Playko had 12 digs and was the Saint Mary's leader in kills with 10, and freshman setter Lauren Temple had 33 assists and six service aces.
Team captains Alison Shevik and Ellise Rupright each had 10 digs, and sophomore transfer Michelle Turley got off to a fast start with her new team by leading the Belles with 13 digs.
