ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's volleyball team battled in a five-set shootout against Bluefield to end day one of the SHU Tournament with a 2-0 record. The Saints (3-0) started the day with a sweep of Roosevelt (25-18, 31-29, 25-17) before pulling out a hard-fought win in five sets over Bluefield (24-26, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 15-9) in the nightcap.
SHU was propelled by a strong offensive performance that saw the team total 109 kills through eight sets while finishing with a team hitting percentage of .455 on the day. The Siena Heights defense also played well as they held the Lakers (1-6) to just .079 hitting as a team. However, the Rams (2-4) faired better after finishing the second match with a .226 hitting total.
Helping lead, the Saints was sophomore setter Aubrey Bates who finished with 96 assists on the evening. Bates tallied a double-double in the match against Bluefield with 59 assists and 15 digs. Three Saint players benefitted with double-digit kills in both matches due to Bates' pinpoint passing. Autumn Anderson ( finished with 33 kills. Janel Ruhlman ( totlated 24 and Kadie Carsten finished with 22.
Olivia Norman ( was a wall for the Saints defense as she finished the evening with 12 blocks. Payton Osborne ( led defensively with 32 digs on the evening.
Game One - Siena Heights 3, Roosevelt 0
Anderson was steady throughout the first match as she had five kills in both the first two sets and four in the third. Carsten was also a big weapon for the home team as she had four kills in the first, six in the second, and two in the third to help the sweep. Norman totaled six block assists and two solo blocks to help anchor the Saints at the net.
SHU hopped out to a quick 7-1 lead in the opening set. Roosevelt battled back and trimmed the lead to 12-9, but the Saints proved to be too much as they earned a 25-18 win to take the 1-0 lead.
The second set was tied at 10 before Siena pulled away to a 16-11 lead. The Lakers fought back to tie the score at 19 before the teams traded points and tied things up another 10 times before SHU finally pulled out a 31-29 win to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
The Saints jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third and never looked back on the way to a 25-17 decision that ended the match.
Game Two - Siena Heights 3, Bluefield 2
Anderson led the way offensively again for Siena as she finished match two with 19 kills. Ruhlman had 14, Cailynn Sullivan ( tallied 11, and Carsten registered 10 as SHU saw four players hit double-digits offensively. Osborne finished with a high of 27 digs in the match as well. Bated earned a career-high 59 assists in the match.
The score in set one remained close to a tie at 11 points before a 4-0 run by SHU built a 15-11 lead. However, the Rams continued to battle and knotted things up at 17 to keep the score close all the way to a 24-24 deadlock that forced extra points. Bluefield earned the final two points and took an early 1-0 lead.
The Saints pulled out a quick 9-4 lead in the second and maintained it for much of the rest. The Rams did pull the deficit to just one point (16-15) but never recaptured the lead as Siena tied things up at one game each.
The third ran similar to the second. However, Bluefield was the team in charge and managed a 15-10 lead. Again, SHU pulled within one point (16-17), but the Rams pulled away for the 25-19 victory and a 2-1 lead.
Siena battled back in the fourth to build a 13-8 lead. Again, Bluefield showed tremendous fight and pulled to a one-point deficit late in the set (24-23), but Carsten's kill ended the set and forced a decisive fifth game to determine the winner.
The final set was all Saints as the team pulled away 9-4 early before closing the door with a 15-9 win.
Up Next
Siena finishes the home tournament tomorrow with matches against undefeated Thomas More (9-0) and Spring Arbor (7-4). The first match will take place at 10:00 a.m., with the second matching immediately following at noon.
