DEARBORN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's volleyball team swept Michigan-Dearborn on the road to extend its current winning streak to four in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action on Friday night. The Saints (13-3, 8-2 WHAC) jumped RV Indiana Tech to take second place in the conference standings with the win this evening.
Janel Ruhlman (9 kills) and Olivia Norman (8 kills) each hit plus-400 for the match to lead the Saints offensively; Ruhlman finished with a .421 while Norman swung a .412 in the Saints' dominant victory. Aubrey Bates paced the play with 29 assists on the night. She added two kills, two service aces, and a block to her stat-line. Payton Osborne led defensively with 22 digs. Alli Conly also contributed on the defensive side with 12 digs.
Siena spotted UM-Dearborn four points before using a 6-0 run to take advantage in the first set on the way to a massive 20-9 lead and never looked back in a set that saw the Navy and Yellow record 13 kills and only one error for a team hitting percentage of .414.
SHU took the lead from the jump of set two and never surrendered it on the way to a 25-18 decision and a 2-0 lead in the set score. The Wolverines rallied late to cut an eight-point lead in half (20-16), but the Saints pushed forward and won the set by seven points to earn the 2-0 edge on the scoreboard.
The third set started with an 8-1 Saint lead, but UM-Dearborn continued to fight and put pressure on the visitors as the lead was cute to 15-13. The Saints scored two-for-one in points to rebuild the lead up to 22-15 before taking the set and the match with a 25-17 win.
Up Next
The win tonight sets up a match between the top two teams in the WHAC standings when RV Madonna (18-5, 10-2 WHAC) visits the SHU Fieldhouse tomorrow for a 1:00 p.m. match with Siena Heights.
