St. Bede volleyball overcomes Hall’s fast start to win in 2 sets

SPRING VALLEY – The St. Bede volleyball team began its second trip through the Three Rivers Conference East Division gauntlet Tuesday, overcoming a fast start and a raucous student section to defeat Hall 25-23, 25-17.

The victory was a far more competitive one for the Bruins than the 25-12, 25-18 win they recorded over Hall at home Aug. 30.

This time, the Red Devils opened by scoring six of the first seven points and leading throughout much of the first set.

“I was proud of the way our team battled back,” St. Bede coach Abbi Bosnich said. “The atmosphere was great tonight with their student section, and it definitely pumped the girls up, though we had some communication errors because we’re not used to playing in such a loud gym.”

Hall (4-12, 0-6 TRC East) got three service aces from Haylie Pellegrini as part of a 6-1 run that opened the match and prompted an early Bruins timeout.

St. Bede rallied to tie the score at 9-9 on a kill by Bella Pinter before taking the lead for the first time, again on a kill by Pinter, at 11-10.

Trailing 21-19, the Red Devils had a pair of ill-timed service errors and, at 23-20, had an apparent kill by Taylor Coutts overruled and called out of bounds to put the visitors within a point of winning the set.

Hall made one final push, scoring three points, including an ace, on Coutts’ serve to close the gap to 24-23 before the Bruins closed out the set, 25-23.

“That was a big call,” Hall coach Carolyn Bryant said “But we missed three serves in a row earlier, and that was just as crucial. They played hard and fought back, but sometimes they have a hard time finishing and believing in themselves.”

St. Bede’s Ella Hermes took over on serve with the score at 1-1 in the second set and did not rotate away until the Bruins had scored nine straight points to take a commanding 10-1 lead.

Hermes recorded two aces in the rally.

Trailing 13-4, the Red Devils steadily reduced their deficit, and a run of four straight points closed the gap to 15-13, prompting a St. Bede timeout.

After the stoppage, the Bruins made another run on Hermes’ serve to score six straight points and put the match out of reach.

“I am excited for our team to play in this kind of atmosphere, but it can be tough if you’re not used to it,” Bosnich said. “It’s a good test as we start this run toward the postseason. I think we just need to get more confident in what we’re doing.”

Ali Bosnich led the Bruins (7-10, 4-2 TRC East) with 11 kills without an error, while Hermes tallied 17 digs and Emily Robbins totaled 13. Amanda Wojcik finished with 19 assists.

Sophie Delphi paced Hall with four kills. Cecilia Verucchi led the Red Devils with 17 digs, while Ella Taliani put up 10.

St. Bede is idle until it travels to Seneca on Monday. Hall competes in the Cissna Park Tournament on Saturday.