St. Gertrude was able hang early on in the first two sets, but on both occasions St. Anne’s-Belfield found a rhythm mid-set to take a strong lead. Behind a balanced attack, the Saints were able to roll in the LIS quarterfinals to a 3-0 win, 25-15, 25-13, 25-19.
“Once we pick up the energy and get in that mindset, we’re unstoppable,” said St. Anne’s coach Marian Howard. “We got that mindset and played hard, played together and got the job done. They passed, talked and hustled.”
In the first set, the two teams were locked up at 6-6 but an 8-2 run by STAB behind the hitting from Sierra Smith and Ann Cathcart made it 16-8 and put the Saints in solid control. Carter Morris, Ellie O’Connor and Jill Gallardo also got warmed up as hitters and STAB was able to go up 21-11 and cruise to an early 1-0 advantage.
“We were really looking forward to this tournament, to get to play our game,” Smith said. “It’s always the gameplan to get all the hitters involved. We’ve got strong hitters all the way around. It’s really easy to get the kills when the passes are there.”
The second set was the closest of the three. The Gators held a 9-8 lead but six straight service points from Smith led to a 14-9 Saints lead. A 6-2 run shortly thereafter put the game out of reach at 20-11 and STAB took a key 2-0 lead in the match.
“The blockers were camping out in the middle so the girls talked and worked faster sets and shot to the outside,” Howard said. “They understand how the game works and it showed today.”
The third and final set went STAB’s way early and stayed that way. The Saints took a 5-1 lead and held serve to 8-4 before going up 14-7. St. Gertrude was able to get as close as 15-11 and keep it that way until 22-18 but was unable to make a run to swipe the game and prolong the match.
“We’re a smaller team this year and a bit inexperienced and we can hang with everyone early on in sets and then the momentum kicks in and that’s where we’ve been hurt,” said Gators coach Robert Murphy. “We’ve got a lot coming back next year so we’ll be a lot more mature.”
“We’re excited about this opportunity and feel like this the year for us to (try and win this tournament),” Smith said. “We’ve been working hard to get here and really want this.”
For the Gators, Sha’Lelia Moore had four kills and four blocks. Natalie Sebastion led the team with six digs. Alison Tyler had a team best 13 assists.
St. Gertrude’s season comes to an end while St. Anne’s advances to the LIS semifinals with St. Catherine’s today.
