MSMC Falls to Sage, Sweeps Old Westbury

ALBANY – The Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Volleyball team returned to action on Saturday and split a pair of Skyline Conference contests. The Knights fell in four sets by scores of 13-25, 21-25, 25-20, 23-25 to Sage, before rebounding to top Old Westbury in straight sets by scores of 25-15, 25-14, 25-8. Ally Klesin finished the victory off with a career-high 10 kills.

In Saturday’s opener, the Knights fell behind by two sets before rebounding to take the third frame with 15 kills. The Knights held the Gators to just eight winners in 28 attacks. The Mount carried the momentum into the fourth set and opened a 17-12 advantage and maintained the lead until Sage knotted the score at 20-20 on a Mount Saint Mary miscue.

The Mount regained the lead on back-to-back kills from Nicole Spinelli and Morgan Burke, but the Gators rallied with five of the final six points to secure the win. Three straight Mikayla Berard winners for Sage closed out the frame.

Senior Angelia Cirigliano paced the Mount with 12 kills in the match and hit .304 and added two aces and six digs. Rachel Sabatini finished off the contest with 10 winners and added seven digs.

Junior Megan Williams rounded out the contest with Sage with seven kills and seven total blocks, with Burke finishing the tilt with four kills and six blocks. Julimar Figueroa lifted 19 kills to lead the Knights, while Kristen Maddock handed out 30 assists and added eight digs.

Sage was led by 18 kills from Berard and received seven digs and a match-high 23 digs from Sara Campolieta. Rachel Liebig led all players with 37 assists and chipped in with six digs.

For the match, kills were even at 42-42 and the Knights held a 10-7 edge in total team blocks. Service aces also went in favor the Mount, 11-9.

After a tough defeat, the Knights rallied for a sweep of Old Westbury to close out play on Saturday. The lead changed hands just twice in the match with the Panthers as the Mount hit a season best .356 as a team.

Eight different Mount Saint Mary players recorded a kill in the match, led by the career best total from Klesin. She hit an efficient .368 in the win and added three aces and a pair of digs. Burke put away seven kills, with Jackie Survilla adding six winners.

Figueroa and Kim Gries led the team with six digs apiece with Gries handing out a team-high 21 assists. Williams paced the team with three total blocks to go along with four kills.

Overall, Mount Saint Mary held a 45-7 advantage in kills and a 13-4 edge in service aces. Mount Saint Mary also won the blocking battle in the match, 4-2.

Saturday’s split moves Mount Saint Mary to 13-16 overall on the season and to 5-3 in Skyline Conference play.