BERKELEY, Calif. — Saint Mary's Volleyball is no stranger to hot starts. In recent matches, the Gaels have had some of their strongest showings in the first set, and that was the case again on Wednesday night inside Haas Pavilion. Taking on the hosting Cal Golden Bears, Saint Mary's opened up with a 25-8 win the first set and looked unstoppable. Cal was up to the task, however, and took the remaining three sets to down SMC and send the Gaels to a 5-3 record.
 
NEAR PERFECT FIRST
It could not get much better for Saint Mary's in the opening set when they were on the attack. The Gaels only needed 27 swings in the entire set, and slammed down 17 kills without an attack error, giving them a hitting percentage of 63%, easily their best mark of the season. They came out of the gates hot with Kristen Erland recording two blocks in an early 6-0 SMC run, and the freshman middle blocker racked up four kills in the first set. As well as she played, she was closely followed (and surpassed, kills-wise) from Elena Baka, who recorded a whopping six kills in the opening stanza.
 
KRISTEN THE KILLAH
It was a career-best night for Erland in the middle, drawing another start after strong play one week ago. Beginning with that strong surge in the opening of the first set, Erland wound up with her best night of the season, landing 12 kills to finish among the leaders for SMC. She was perfect in that first set, swinging four times and landing four kills. With the Gaels down a few bodies on the night, they needed a big performance from Erland, and she delivered.
 
THINGS GOT TIGHT
The final two sets of the night were as close as it was all evening, with Saint Mary's and Cal coming down to the wire. The Golden Bears took the edge in the third set with a 25-22 decision that was even closer than the score indicated. SMC battled back from down 18-11 to make it a 23-22 score down the stretch, using three kills in quick order from Baka. Cal took the final two points to end the set, but the third set was tight throughout. Abigail Matoso helped the Gaels win a few long rallies with heroic, sprawled out digs, and it helped her finish the night with 21 digs, one shy of a career-best. The Gaels were down just one point at 17-16, but the Bears pulled ahead to win eight of the final 11 points to secure the win.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's returns home for the final non-conference match of the season on Friday night as SMC hosts UC Davis inside University Credit Union Pavilion. The Aggies will playing on Thursday night as they host the same Cal Golden Bears up in Davis, while Saint Mary's has one day off in between. Following Friday's match, the Gaels will prepare for their first WCC matches of the year as they head off to San Diego and BYU.
 
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