Three of the four Saint Mary's fall sports teams were in action over the last few days, with only cross country getting the weekend off. It proved to be a successful stretch for the Belles, as soccer and volleyball racked up victories while golf notched a top-5 finish.
Soccer
Soccer was the only team to have multiple competitions over the weekend. The Belles played Great Lakes Christian on Friday and Franklin on Sunday as part of a tiring stretch of four games in seven days. But the Belles hardly seem fatigued. Saint Mary's tied its largest margin of victory of the season Friday, hammering the Crusaders 4-0. All four goals came in the opening 45 minutes, the most the Belles have scored in any half this season.Freshman midfielder Margaret Slove started and ended the barrage with goals 18 minutes apart, albeit in different fashions. The first came off a beautiful give-and-go with freshman forward Layne Ridderman. She then tallied the second off a collision between Crusaders keeper Caroline Huistra and a defender. Fouls cost Great Lakes Chrisitan on the other goals, with junior midfielder Grace Barresi making it 2-0 on a free kick. Sophomore midfielder Grace Reyda buried a penalty kick for the third goal.
Saint Mary's once again got off to a hot start Sunday, scoring both goals in the first 20 minutes. Slove notched her fifth goal in four games to open the scoring in the 16th minute. Junior midfielder Mary Kaczynski set Slove's goal up then called her own number and took advantage of a failed Grizzlies' clearance to score her first of the year. Sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Miklavcic registered three saves across the two games building onto her now four-match shutout streak. The Belles sit at 5-3 and ride a four-game winning streak into a Tuesday night road clash with Trine.
Volleyball
The Belles volleyball team bounced back nicely from a 3-0 loss to Manchester by beating Beloit 3-1 on Friday. After dropping the opening set, Saint Mary's held the Buccaneers under 20 points in each of the remaining sets. The Belles had four runs of three or more straight points in each of the final three sets. Saint Mary's was dominant in the final set, starting it on a 4-0 run and later racking up seven straight points to put the match away.Junior middle hitter Shay Theile was the star of the show, leading Saint Mary's with 18 kills and three blocks. She also tied freshman outside hitter Kennedy Oselka for the team lead with two service aces. Sophomore setter Mia Shields led the team with 16 digs. The win brings the Belles to 4-5 on the year. It should also give them momentum heading into conference play Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Kalamazoo.
Golf
The Belles golf team got back on track with a top-five finish at the Benedictine Midwest Region Classic. Saint Mary's was tied for second after the first day of competition. Sophomores Amanda Melling and Julia Lizak broke 80 in the first round and junior Georgie Kersman did the same in the second round. All three finished inside of the top 30. Nationally ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater won the competition, finishing 20 strokes ahead of the Belles.Saint Mary's returns to action Wednesday for the second MIAA Jamboree of the fall, this one hosted by Calvin. The Belles won the first of these four competitions back on Sept. 14 at Albion.
Sign up for our Observer Sports newsletter!Have an Irish sports question? Ask it for our Observer Sports mailbag!
