St. Paul, Minn.– Macalester volleyball hosted the St. Scholastica Saints in a five-set thrilling win to mark the second win of their MIAC campaign. The Scots went 21-25, 25-16, 25-19, 18-25 and 15-11 to win the game after a thrilling back and forth battle.
Mac opened the first set battling for an early lead, ending up tied 13-13 with kills from
Adonia Anene (North Hollywood, Calif./The Buckley School, first-year
Lydia Koshuta (Appleton, Wis./Appleton) and first-year outside hitter
Channing Smith (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park River Forest). Mac continued to battle, but as St. Scholastica logged a few kills, the set started to slip away as the Saints went on a 5-point run to make it 21-17, and kept their four-point lead, ending the set 25-21 in favor of the Saints, despite kills from first-year middle blocker
Kyle Speta (San Francisco, Calif./Urban School of San Francisco) and Smith.
In the second set, it wasn't the same story, as the Scots went down 3-8 early. However, the Scots did not stay asleep, as they came back and tied the game 10-10 after kills from sophomore middle blocker
Danielle Oji (Katy, Texas/Obra D. Tompkins), junior outside hitter
Ella Cohen-Richie (Chicago, Ill. Univ. of Chicago Laboratory Schools), Speta and Smith. Macalester put their foot on the gas and went on a 15-6 run to close out the set 25-16 after being down 5 points early. Kills by Speta, first-year middle blocker
Siennah Calkins (Tomahawk, Wis./Tomahawk), Smith and Oji made the run possible.
St. Scholastica came out blazing as their offense went up 7-3 early. Mac was not out, as they came back, going on a 7-3 run and tying up the game at 10-10 with kills from Speta and a few errors from the Saints. The kills kept coming, as Macalester took a late two-point lead at 19-17 and did not look back as they won the set 15-19 with Kills from Oji, Cohen-Richie, Speta, Smith and Anene.
Mac wanted to end the game after coming back down 1-0 to make it 2-1 in their favor, but the set proved to be grueling early, as the set was tied yet again 10-10 with kills from Oji and Calkins. The Scots quickly lost control of the set after the Saints went on a 10-5 run to make it 20-15, and that five-point lead proved to be enough, winning the set 25-18 despite a hard-fought set by the Scots. Calkins added two kills, along with Oji in set four.
The Leonard Center was almost dead quiet at the start of the fifth set, with both teams looking to add a MIAC win to their record. The fifth set started out 4-4 with teams trading errors early. The Saints kept pushing the Macalester defense as they shortly after took a 7-5 lead after a few kills. However, the Scots were not done, and after trading blow-for-blow Macalester tied the game up at 10 in another set, willed by kills from Smith, Speta, Cohen-Richie and a mix of errors by the Saints. The Macalester Scots were hungry for another MIAC win, and they did not look back, as a kill from Speta followed by a Kill from Oji, then another by Speta, and finally by Anene put them one point away from a win at 14-11. Mac won their set after an attack error by the Saints and closed out a five-set thriller in St. Paul, marked by 4 lead changes and seven tie scores in the fifth set.
Macalester was led by 14 kills from Speta, followed by 9 from Smith. Senior
Hannah Morrow (Raleigh, N.C./Millbrook) added a monster 27 assists, followed by first-year
Lydia Koshuta (Appleton, Wis./Appleton) with 15 of her own. Junior
Lizzie Joo (San Jose, Calif./Valley Christian) led the team with 21 digs, followed by Smith with 16.
Next for the Scots: Macalester (7-7) will continue their MIAC play by facing off against the College of Saint Benedict at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2.
Story by Sam Bloom
