Women's Volleyball Make First Ever NCAA Tournament Appearance
11/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 30, 2003
Moraga, CA - Second-year head women's volleyball coach Jon Stevenson has guided Saint Mary's to into the 2003 NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament as announced on Sunday. The Gaels earned an at-large selection into the 64-team field after posting a 20-12 overall record this season. Saint Mary's will open the tournament on Friday, December 5 at 7 p.m. in Berkeley, CA against the No. 8-ranked California Golden Bears at Haas Pavilion.
"I was surprised when I first heard we made the tournament," said WCC First Team All-Conference selection Jill Parmele. "The chances of the committee picking six teams from our conference didn't seem likely. This is really exciting and the other players on the team feel the same way. It was a goal of ours to make the NCAA Tournament and its good to see that our hard work has paid off."
California enters the tournament with a 23-6 overall record and finished tied for third in the Pacific-10 Conference with a 12-6 mark. With a 23-6 record, the Bears posted a .793 winning percentage, the best in school history. The third place finish in conference was also the best finish by a California women's volleyball team.
During the course of the 2003 season, Saint Mary's posted victories over three ranked opponents. The Gaels opened the season with a 3-0 win over No. 23 Texas and then during West Coast Conference action the Gaels defeated No. 13 LMU (3-2) and No. 22 San Diego (3-2). The Gaels were one of six teams from the WCC that were selected to this year's tournament, which includes No. 4 Pepperdine, No. 13 Santa Clara, No. 15 LMU, San Francisco and San Diego.
Saint Mary's finished the season 20-12, which is the third best turn-around in Division I according to the Rich Kern website. At 20-12, the team's winning percentage was .623 and the individual game winning percentage, (80-37), was .695. The Gaels also set numerous Division I school records this season including the most kills in a season (1,779) and highest assist total in a season (1,432).
Since moving to the Division I ranks in 1987, the 20-win campaign marked the best season for a women's volleyball team at SMC. The previous record for wins in a season was 18, that was done in 1989. Since that 18-12 season in 1989, the Gaels have only had double-digits in wins four times.
En route to the best season in school history, the Gaels posted a record of 8-1 in the four tournaments they participated in this season, winning all four tournaments, including the CS Northridge tournament, UC Irvine's, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and at TCU. In each tournament, WCC First Team All-Conference player Jill Parmele was the Most Valuable Player in all four tournaments.
The last time Saint Mary's played in a post season tournament was in 1985 as an NAIA Division school. That season the Gaels posted a 32-8 overall record and captured the NAIA National Championship.
VB | Tyler Hildebrand Season Wrap Up Press Conference, 12-2-25
Tuesday, December 02
VB | Highlights at Pepperdine, 11-29-25
Saturday, November 29
VB | Highlights at LMU, 11-26-25
Wednesday, November 26
VB | Tyler Hildebrand Postgame Presser vs. Washington State 2025
Saturday, November 22
