Dec. 2, 2005
Box Score
Columbia, MO - The Saint Mary's volleyball team dropped their first round NCAA Tournament match on Friday night in Columbia, MO, losing to Arkansas 3-0 at the Hearnes Center on the campus of the University of Missouri.
With the loss the Gaels exit the 2005 NCAA Tournament, which they have participated in for the past three years, the first team in school history to accomplish such a feat.
Saint Mary's finishes the regular season with a 19-10 record, while Arkansas improved to 21-11 and advances to face Missouri in the second round on Saturday night. Missouri beat Missouri State 3-0 in the second match of the evening.
Saint Mary's led just twice, in three-game match against the Razorbacks, despite a match-high, 14 kills from sophomore Missie Stidham.
"Good season for us. [It was] very, very disappointing to our girls and our staff to finish this way," Head Coach Rob Browning said. "It's one thing to lose a hard-fought battle, it's another thing to just not play well and not show up and get beat so badly. So, we're really disappointed, very disappointed. We didn't come here just to play the first round."
Arkansas owned Saint Mary's in attack percentage, posting a .358 average, while holding the Gaels to .111. The Gaels posted a .000 attack percentage with nine kills and nine errors in game two. In contrast, Arkansas senior middle blocker Karla Crose was nearly infallible, with six kills on seven attempts to post a .857 average.
Saint Mary's, the second ranked blocking team in the nation, lost the blocking battle 27 to 10. Crose contributed 10 blocks, and sophomore Christina Lawrence had eight.
"Arkansas beat us in every aspect of the game," Browning said. "They outplayed us, out coached us. They were well prepared and they just played a lot better than we did."
Arkansas and Saint Mary's played nearly point for point early in game one. Arkansas took advantage of an early opportunity as Lawrence's three straight kills widened the gap to 13-9. The Razorbacks continued to feed off of Saint Mary's self inflicted errors, two kills by Crose, and a crucial block assists by Lawrence and Crose, making the score 20-14 before a time out.
Following the timeout, the Gaels rallied to three straight points on a kill from Taylor Groess, a block from Christina Kirk and a service ace from Groess, pushing the score to 21-17. The Gaels drew closer late in the game as consecutive kills from Kaui Salzman, and a key block from Salzman and Kirk forced the match to 28-27. Saint Mary's would get no closer, as Arkansas would come back to score two straight points and take game one, 30-27.
Game two featured an Arkansas team that jumped on the Gaels early and never let up. Key blocks from Lawrence and Crose allowed Arkansas to take an early lead. The Gaels continued to play tough, battling to a 15-12 score before the Razorbacks again took control, forcing a 12-4 run, pushing the game to 27-16. Kele Brewer's back-to-back kills and an error by Saint Mary's Brittany Barker closed the game, 30-17.
Saint Mary's continued to hang around, storming out of the locker room with renewed enthusiasm, matching points with Arkansas in game three. A four-point run gave Arkansas the 6-3 lead; a lead they would not relinquish. The Razorbacks rode their way to the sweep, closing out the match on an 8-2 run, highlighted by Koleva's kills, and three spectacular blocks by Crose, who was aided by Koleva and Lawrence allowing Arkansas to win the third game, 30-21.
