Dec. 10, 2004
Box Score
Seattle, WA - The Saint Mary's volleyball team had a year of firsts according to head coach Jon Stevenson, and one of those first was a trip to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen. The Gaels fell short of advancing any further on Friday night with a 3-0 loss to 7th seeded Washington on its home court Bank of America Arena in Seattle, WA. But the Gaels still had an impressive year and finished with a school-record 25-4 and a 10th seed in the tournament.
"The world is in front of us with this team," Stevenson said.
The Gaels finished the season with back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time in school history, two victories in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, a school best 12-2 finish in the WCC and a school record five All-West Coast Conference players.
Saint Mary's fell behind early in all three games and could never recover against the Huskies, who are ranked No. 5 in the USA Today/CSTV Coaches Poll. Saint Mary's came into the West Regional with a No. 12 ranking, which is also a school record.
Washington will face UCLA in the Elite Eight on Saturday night, after the Bruins upset 2nd seeded Penn State 3-1 in the earlier match.
"Washington made very few errors," sophomore setter Mandy Bible said. "They make you win points. They were very precise."
The Gaels were led by Cassandra Kolkka, who recorded a team-high 13 kills with a .440 hitting percentage and six digs. Missie Stidham had five kills and 11 digs in one game at outside hitter and two games at libero, and Mariko Coverdale had six kills.
Saint Mary's also received four kills from Christina Kirk, and three kills from Lindsey Bogason and Kaui Salzman.
"We made some hitting errors and didn't connect together on the court," Salzman said.
In Game 3, Washington jumped out to an 11-5 lead, before Saint Mary's called its first timeout. The Huskies continued to lead 20-11, forcing the Gaels to call their final timeout.
In Game 2, the Huskies jumped out in front, very similar to Game 1, and the Gaels had a hard time getting back into the game. Washington went on to win the second game 30-20. Kolkka had three kills, Salzman had three kills and Coverdale had two kills for the Gaels.
In Game 1, the Gaels fell behind 7-1, and never recovered. Washington went on to win the first game 30-20. Saint Mary's was led Kolkka in the first game, who had five kills and Bogason added two kills. Washington was led by two players, Kaitlin Leck and Christal Morrison, who each had six kills.
"Unfortunately we didn't do a good job tonight," Stevenson said. "It wasn't for lack of effort. I would give a tremendous amount of credit to Washington, they have a lot of different weapons."
