SAINT MARY OF THE WOODS, Ind. – Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) women's volleyball hosted Indiana University-Southeast tonight in its home opener. With the Grenadiers picked to finish third in the River States Conference (RSC), the Pomeroys knew they had a tough match in front of them. After a back and forth battle in set one, SMWC could not find their niche and lost all three sets (17-25, 11-25, 14-25).

The Highlights

• Freshman Jaelyn Fennell and transfer Mandi Alspach led the team with six kills apiece
• Katelyn Cotter served up 16 assists with three digs
• Alexis Woodburn tallied five kills on 17 swings

By the Numbers

• SMWC was out-hit 45-to-20 while IU-Southeast notched a .470 hitting percentage
• The Grenadiers handed the Pomeroys their first loss of the season

Quote | Sean McMorrow

How do you think your team faired against a top tier NAIA opponent?

"Pretty excited about the team's performance, IU-Southeast was picked third in their preseason poll. They are obviously a quality team, they play a number of seniors and are a very experienced team. We are in a growing situation, with our program bringing in the new system, a lot of players are learning the system, and so we are just trying to get that cohesiveness play from play-in to play-out."

Quote | Mandi Alspach

How does a loss affect the morale of the locker room? How is the team able to bounce back and stay focused on its goals?

"I think it definitely affects the locker room. We talked a lot about growth, we have six new players on the team so we are definitely a growing team. With this being our second match, against the suspected number third team in their conference, it was definitely a tough team. It shows us a lot of what we need to grow on and how to forget our mistakes."

What's Next?

The women's volleyball team travels to Oakland City, Indiana, on Friday, September 6th. SMWC will face off against NCAA Divison II Oakland City University. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m. ET.

Photo Gallery | https://smwc.prestosports.com/sports/wvball/2019-20/photos/0001/index

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