Sydney Bennett Leads SCSU Volleyball In NE10 Opening Win Against Saint Anselm

Saint Anselm SA 10-5,0-1 NE10

Southern Conn. St. SCSU 12-4,3-0 NE10

Saint Anselm SA

10-5,0-1 NE10

Final

Oct. 02, 2026

Southern Conn. St. SCSU

12-4,3-0 NE10

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Saint Anselm SA	25	22	15	27	(1)
Southern Conn. St. SCSU	17	25	25	29	(3)

Summary
Box Score

Game Recap: Volleyball | 10/2/2026 7:34:00 PM

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Southern Connecticut State University volleyball defeated Saint Anselm, 3-1, to open Northeast 10 Conference play. The Owls improved to 12-4 overall and 1-0 in NE10 play. Saint Anselm fell to 10-5 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Sydney Bennett led all players with 18 kills on .343 hitting and added seven blocks for a match-high 23.5 points. It was her sixth match this season with at least 15 kills. Marisabelle Sias finished with 11 kills on .348 hitting, including three kills in the extended fourth set to help close the match. Sarah Stark added nine kills on .350 hitting and five blocks, and Kerrigan Habing had eight kills, a service ace and 13 digs from the outside.

Setter Kimi Mitchell directed the offense with 45 assists, six digs, three kills and three blocks. Sarah Henault anchored the back row with 18 digs, and Alyssa Ferreira added nine digs.
SCSU hit .220 for the match with 56 kills, 51 assists, 13 blocks and 68 digs, while holding Saint Anselm to .118 hitting. The Owls limited the Hawks to negative hitting in the third set and pulled away late in a back-and-forth fourth.

Saint Anselm came out sharp in the opener. The Hawks hit .345 in Set 1 with 13 kills against just three errors and used a 6-0 run to turn an 11-11 tie into a 17-11 lead. Southern cut it to 16-13 after a kill by Bennett, but Saint Anselm closed on an 8-1 run to take the set 25-17.

Southern responded in Set 2. After trailing 3-0 early, the Owls settled behind Bennett and Stark in the middle. SCSU hit .278 in the set with 14 kills and held Saint Anselm to .150. A kill by Stark tied it at 16-16, and SCSU won four of the next five points, including kills from Sias and Stark, to lead 20-17. Saint Anselm pulled within 24-22, but Sias ended it with a kill off a set from Mitchell for a 25-22 win.

Set 3 was all Southern. The Owls hit .375 with 14 kills and only two errors while holding Saint Anselm to -.086 with 10 errors. After Saint Anselm scored the first two points on service aces by O'Connell, SCSU answered with a 7-1 run to lead 7-4. Ferreira sparked a decisive stretch from the service line, as Southern scored six straight points to push the lead from 6-5 to 12-6. Bennett had five kills in the set and the Owls closed on a 4-0 run capped by a kill from Habing to win 25-15.

The fourth set required extra points. Saint Anselm led early at 7-3 but Southern rallied to tie at 10-10 on a kill by Katie Bardak. The teams traded points the rest of the way with nine ties after 15-15. Saint Anselm earned set point at 26-25 after an attack error by Bennett, but SCSU answered with a kill from Sias. Tied at 27-27, Sias delivered back-to-back kills — both on sets by Henault— to give Southern the 29-27 win and the match.

Southern finished with a 13-5 advantage in blocks and a 70-60 edge in total points. The Owls had just one ace compared to seven for Saint Anselm, but offset it with cleaner attacking in the final three sets, hitting .278 or better in each.

SCSU will look to build on its conference-opening victory as NE10 play continues at Adelphi on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 5 p.m. The Owls then head to Worcester, Mass. to take on Assumption on Friday, Oct. 9 before returning home to host Bentley on Friday, Oct. 16 at 5 p.m. at Pelz Gymnasium.

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