GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's volleyball team fell in five sets on the road against Cornerstone on Friday night. The Saints (14-5, 9-4 WHAC) sit in fourth in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) standings after the setback.
Aline Marinelo led the SHU offense with 12 kills (.300). Janel Ruhlman finished with nine kills (.184), and Olivia Norman tallied eight kills a team-high seven blocks in the losing effort. Aubrey Bates registered her third-straight double-double with 37 assists and 12 digs. Payton Osborne and Alli Conly led defensively with 20 digs each. Kadie Carsten finished with 19 digs in the match.
Cornerstone claimed an eight-point lead early in the first set and never looked back on the way to a 25-13 victory for the 1-0 lead. However, the Saints rallied back in the second set as they used a 3-0 run to move ahead 17-16 before eventually pulling away to a 25-21 decision to tie the score at one game each.
In the third, the Golden Eagles used a 4-0 run to build a 16-10 advantage. SHU battled back to tie things up at 22 and force a timeout by the home team. Cornerstone finished the game with a block to take the third 25-22 and a 2-1 lead. A 4-0 run in the fourth set gave Siena Heights a 12-11 lead. The teams tied seven more times. The final time was at 24 to force extra points. Norman gave the Saints set point with a kill. An attack error by the Golden Eagles on the next play gave the Saints the win and forced a match deciding fifth set.
The Saints held a 3-1 lead early in the fifth before a 4-0 run gave Cornerstone a 5-3 edge. The Golden Eagles maintained a two-point lead for much of the remainder of the fifth before building a 14-9 lead. SHU pulled closer with two straight points, but Cornerstone was able to take the last point to end the set with a 15-11 lead and win the tightly contested match.
Up Next
The SHU women's volleyball team remains on the road for a WHAC contest against Aquinas on Saturday, October 23. The match is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start time.
