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STAB volleyball beats Collegiate for eighth straight win

A few short weeks ago, St. Anne’s-Belfield’s volleyball team was struggling.

 

“We had some really tough losses and you can’t play if you can’t pass — serve receive was killing us,” said STAB coach Stacey Gearhart.

 

Serve receive clearly isn’t a problem anymore as Tuesday night STAB swept Collegiate 3-0 just a few weeks after falling in five games to the Cougars in Richmond.

 

The Saints started the season 1-4 including the loss to Collegiate, one to Albemarle, one to St. Catherine’s and another to Charlottesville. Since that time? They’ve been rolling.

 

Tuesday’s sweep of the Cougars was STAB’s eighth win in a row.

 

“It’s almost like a different team,” Gearhart said. “We’re coming into practice and we’ve got high energy, the girls are supporting one another, they’re helping each other with positions…we’re starting to control the controllables.”

 

The Saints survived a back and forth game one with the Cougars with a 25-23 victory and then mashed the pedal down in games two and three with a pair of 25-9 victories. The STAB offense in particular found a rhythm that it hadn’t found often even during the eight-game win streak.

 

“We cleaned up the passing, we got some sets, and we’ve got a great front line,” Gearhart said. “That’s the biggest difference for us.”

 

Ann Cathcart led that offensive effort with 10 kills on the night, but from there the Saints spread the wealth as Carter Morris and Sierra Smith each had five kills and Jill Gallardo notched four. Sarah Bauer and Kellie Booth pulled the trigger at setter for the Saints, combining for 22 assists.

 

Morris did the heavy lifting defensively with a team-high 13 digs while Cathcart chipped in seven digs and Smith finished with six. Cathcart also threw in a pair of blocks and four aces for good measure in a strong all-around effort. Morris, Bauer and Smith all had three aces apiece.

 

Friday, STAB will get a chance to make it nine in a row as they head to Richmond to face Trinity Episcopal.

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