SAN FRANCISCO — Saint Mary's Volleyball kept the good times rolling on Thursday night in San Francisco against the Dons. After the Gaels swept their only match last week, they began this week with another perfect start, rolling past the Dons by finals of 25-17, 25-23, and 25-18 to make quick work of San Francisco. The Gaels have now won six straight sets and are 10-8 (4-5) while San Francisco falls to 0-17 (0-9).
 
HAVEN'T DONE IT BETTER IN A WHILE
The Saint Mary's attack was on fire Thursday night, as the Gaels never had a set where they attacked below 26%. They only committed eight attack errors on the night, eventually leading to a 13.7% attack percentage, their second-best mark of the season, nearing the 33% they put up against Wyoming at the Rumble in the Rockies. Chandler Cowell was once again leading the way with 11 kills and zero errors, hitting at a .393 clip. Saint Mary's closed out the night with their best set of the night, registering 23 kills without an error, and hitting at 33.3%.
 
BLOCK BRIGADE
Saint Mary's wound up with nine total blocks, but it was a rare performance in the solo block category that gave the Gaels a boost at the net. Kristen Erland recorded four solo blocks on the evening, easily the most in her career and the most by a Gael in a match this season. The last Gael with more solo blocks in a match was current assistant coach Aubrey Pitts, who had 5 in a November match against LMU in 2019. Erland's four solo stuffs are tied for the eighth most in program history, along with six other Gaels.
 
SECOND SET SCARIES
Saint Mary's pulled ahead midway through both the first and third sets, but allowed the Dons to hang around during the second set. Things would eventually get tied 20-20, but Saint was able to take advantage of a service error from the Dons, and Ashley Reed followed it up with one of her six kills on the night. After a Dons point, Reed came right back with another howitzer, and a Gaels block from Hawley Harrer and Trinity Durfee had Saint Mary's knocking on the door. It was closed out by an error from San Francisco in a 24-23 match, giving the Gaels the win in the closest set of the evening.
 
ERLAND EXPLAINS
"It was a great team win. Our setters were able to distribute the ball very well to be able to involve all of our hitters. We are really excited for our next match against Santa Clara and feel very prepared." – Kristen Erland
 
BROWNING BITES
"We've really been working hard to be more consistent and we are seeing improvement there. Our offensive numbers were good tonight. Alosina Thompson and Ella Sandt had a big hand in that, they ran the offense very well." – head coach, Rob Browning
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will head about 40 miles south on Saturday afternoon as they take on the Santa Clara Broncos at 1:00 pm. Saint Mary's won a thriller against Santa Clara in Moraga one month ago, when the Gaels needed five sets to hang on and win.
 
#GaelsRise – Single game tickets are on sale now for the remainder of the 2021 season. Grab your tickets HERE!