NOTRE DAME, Ind.-- Saint Mary's fought back to win the final two sets and earn a 25-22, 21-25, 24-26, 25-19, 15-9 victory over Trine in MIAA-action Saturday at the Angela Center.
Katie Hecklinksi carried the Belles' attack with 25 kills in the match. Hecklinski hit .215 and added 12 digs for the double-double. Freshman Janaya Wilder (Decatur, Ind./Bellmont) led the Thunder attack with 14 kills. Wilder added nine digs. The win gives Saint Mary's the season sweep of Trine, which would give the Belles the advantage in any tiebreaker for MIAA Tournament seeding. The Thunder are 9-12 overall, 5-5 in the MIAA. SMC is 12-9 overall, 5-5 in conference matches.
Taylor Rabel (Muncie, Ind./Muncie Central) added 12 kills for Trine. The Thunder notched 12 blocks in the match, paced by Emma Bowman (Corvallis, Ore./St. Joseph) with a block solo and five block assists. Bowman added eight kills.
Megan Verkamp (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) filled the stat sheet with nine kills, 16 assists, eight digs and four block assists. Mikayla Carpenter (Huntington, Ind./Huntington North) notched a match-high 24 digs for Trine.
Meaghan Gibbons notched 11 kills and 20 digs to pick up a double-double for SMC. Gibbons also notched five service aces. Alexis Grady picked up eight kills, 26 assists and 13 digs. McKenzie Todd added a team-high 23 digs.
Trine's best two defensive sets came in the two sets the Thunder won. Trine held the Belles to .143 and .080 hitting marks in the second and third sets. The Thunder picked up eight of their blocks between those two sets. Rabel and Verkamp each notched six kills to pace the attack in the two set victories.
SMC rallied back in the fourth and fifth sets to earn the victory. Hecklinski led the attack with nine kills. A 13-5 spurt was the difference in the fourth set. A 7-0 run to start the fifth set proved too much for the Thunder to overcome as the Belles completed the comeback.
Trine returns to action this Wednesday, Oct. 14 when they host Kalamazoo at 7 p.m.