VB | Gaels Edged By No. 8 Hawaii in Honolulu
8/26/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
HONOLULU, Hawaii - The Saint Mary's volleyball team proved to be a tough match for No. 8 Hawaii as the Rainbow Wahine edged the Gaels 25-20, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19 on Saturday night. The Gaels put together a furious rally in the fourth set to pull even late, but UH was able to close out the match.
With the loss, Saint Mary's drops to 0-2, while Hawaii improves to 2-0. Lauren Corp recorded career kill No. 1,000 in the match.
"We battled very hard and made a great match out of it tonight," said head coach Rob Browning. "We asked the girls to learn as the match went along and they definitely did.
Corp finished the night with nine kills and 21 digs. Kristina Graven sent down a team-high 15 kills with 16 digs while Samantha Tinsley reached double digits with 11 kills. Dalas Dodd had 39 assists with four digs and four kills. Jordan Shaw recorded 14 digs as the libero.
UH was led by Emily Hartong with 17 kills and Hawaii held a 17.5 - 7.5 advantage in blocks.
"Because of how we played and got better as the match went along, we are coming out of this match a significantly better team," said Browning. "I would rather challenge ourselves against two great teams like Stanford and Hawaii and risk going 0-2, opposed to picking up two quick wins... now we need to get ready to play a great match against Albany tomorrow."
In the first set, the Gaels were within 13-10, before UH scored three straight points to push the Hawaii lead to 16-10. Saint Mary's was able to pull within 23-19, but came out on the short end of a long rally to give UH set point. UH won the set 25-20.
Saint Mary's used its better play toward the end of the first set to take a 10-6 lead after Graven's kill. After UH pulled within 15-14, the Gaels got kills by Dodd and Reininger to push the lead back to three. SMC pushed the lead up to five at 20-15 after a triple block by Jolly, Graven and Dodd. UH came within two points on two occasions, but could not get closer as Corp closed out the second set with a kill at 25-22.
The Gaels came out strong in the third set before UH tied it up at 8-8. The Rainbow Wahine would score five straight points to open up the set. The Gaels would put together a late run and pull within 20-16 after a Graven kill. SMC could not get closer than four points the rest of the way as UH took the set 25-19.
UH started the fourth set by scoring the first five points, forcing the Gaels to take an early timeout. The Gaels chipped away and pulled within 15-11 after a Tinsley kill. SMC pulled within 17-16 after a UH error and Graven kill, forcing UH to take a timeout. Dodd sent down a kill to tie the set at 17-17, but UH scored the next four points to take the 21-17 advantage. UH closed the set out with a 25-19 win.
Saint Mary's is back in action on Sunday for the final day of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational. The Gaels take on Albany at 6:00 p.m. in Honolulu.
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