Moraga, CA - The No. 21 Saint Mary's women's volleyball team looked ready for the post season, defeating BYU (15-14/9-7 MWC) in straight sets, Saturday afternoon at McKeon Pavilion. With the win, the Gaels improve to 22-4/13-1 WCC and are a perfect 13-0 at home. SMC looked sharp in their regular season finale, hitting .477 as a team and holding the Cougars to a .045 hitting percentage. Saint Mary's needed just an hour and fourteen minutes taking all three sets (25-16, 25-8, and 25-17).
"Our team has shown repeatedly that they will play at a high level regardless of the circumstances," said head coach Rob Browning. "Today's match was a good opportunity to stay sharp before the tournament and we really didn't give BYU much room to breathe. BYU is a better team than they showed today. We just didn't give them any margin for error. We are looking forward to the selection show tomorrow to know who and where we are playing in the first round of the tournament. We will be better prepared this year for whatever the draw is."
Leading the Gaels was freshman outside hitter Lauren Corp who notched her eighth double-double of the season with a team-high 15 kills and 10 digs. For the afternoon she recorded 15 kills on 25 attempts for an outstanding .600 hitting percentage, with the 10 digs and two block assists.
Second on the team in the kills department was senior Lauren Jaeckel who hit some thunderous shots, recording nine kills on 13 attempts for a .615 hitting percentage, while notching one block. Shannon Lowell recorded eight kills on 15 swings for a .533 hitting percentage while notching one ace, one dig and five total blocks. Chanteal Satele and Megan York rounded out the attacking, Satele notched six kills on 12 swings for a .417 hitting percentage, while York recorded five kills on 14 swings with five digs and a block assist.
Missy White recorded a match-high 25 assists, while notching two kills and one dig. Kapua Kamana'o notched 18 assists with two digs on the afternoon. The 2009 West Coast Conference Defender of the Year, Alita Fisher recorded a match-high 14 digs, giving her a team-high 466 digs on the season.
The Gaels opened up the first set, trading points with the Cougars, settling on a 2-2 tie following a kill by Jaeckel. That was the last tie of the set, as the Gaels took total control from there. A BYU attack error made it 6-2 Gaels; the Cougars pulled within two, four times, the last time with the score 11-9. But the Gaels took control, led by Corp who recorded seven first set kills. A kill by Satele put the Gaels out front 19-14; the Cougars would only score two more times, as Saint Mary's would take the opening frame 25-16.
In the second set it was all Saint Mary's. The second set featured zero ties, and zero lead changes. SMC had a perfect 100% sideout percentage. SMC opened up the set with a 6-1 lead after a kill by Jaeckel forcing the Cougars to call a timeout. The Gaels pushed their lead to 11-2 following an attack error from BYU. After a series of service errors the Gaels had an 18-6 lead, the Cougars could score only two more times as the Gaels took the second set with a commanding 25-8 win.
In the final set the Gaels were paced by Lowell who notched five of her eight kills. BYU scored first on a bad set by Jaeckel, SMC tied the set up at 1-1 following a Lowell kill, and from there the Gaels were off, back-to-back block assists by Lowell and Corp put the Gaels up 4-1. Lowell notched yet another kill to go up 10-7. BYU came within one, 11-10 following a kill by Kayla Walker, but Saint Mary's rallied, taking the match by a final of 25-17.
Saint Mary's will find out their post season match-up tomorrow, when the NCAA Tournament Selections have been announced. Fans are encouraged to join the Gaels for the selection show beginning at 11:30 AM at Pennini's in Moraga. Fans can also tune into the Women's Volleyball Selection Radio Show at 12:30 PM at SMCGaels.com.
