SACRAMENTO — Saint Mary's returned to action on Saturday night up in Sacramento to take on the Hornets for the first time in nearly 10 years. The Gaels came out of the gates slow, but were able to find enough of a fire to bring the match to a fifth and deciding set. Once the Gaels came out of the gates with the first four points in the last set, there was no stopping SMC, as they pulled ahead for a 15-6 win in the final set and improved to 4-1 on the young season, with a thrilling victory.
 
STRONG RESPONSE
The Gaels looked flat in the opening set, but turned it around quickly in time for the second set. An early 5-1 deficit turned into a 9-9 tie when Chandler Cowell knotted it up with her second kill of the set. A 6-0 run shortly thereafter gave the Gaels some breathing room that they desperately needed, buoyed by strong play up front from Kristen Erland and Jennifer "Boo" Laird. The Hornets made 10 attack errors in that second set, and the final two points to SMC were in the form of a service error and one of those attack errors, giving the Gaels a 1-1 tie with Sacramento State.
 
BRING ON THE BLOCK
It's tough to envision the Saint Mary's block being better early in a set than it was in the third set. The Gaels recorded four of their first 10 points in the set via the block, beginning with Selbie Christensen and Hawley Harrer on the second point. That was one of three early on for Christensen, who teamed up with Erland on one, and Elena Baka on another. SMC racked up 13 blocks the night before against San Jose State, and finished Saturday's night affair with 13 blocks for the second-consecutive night. Laird had two solo blocks along with three assists, and Erland also had five total blocks, with one of the solo variety.
 
SWINGIN' SELBIE
Not only did that third set bring out the Gaels block, but it is also where Christensen made her presence felt in a big way. Earlier in the match, Christensen recorded aces on back-to-back serves; entering the evening, she only had one previous service ace in her entire career. She added another in the third set to add to her career-best with three aces, but her night was more impressive. She set new career-bests in kills (11), blocks (7), and in the aforementioned category of aces (3). When she came alive in the third set, the Gaels bench erupted and provided a spark that carried into the fifth set.
 
BROWNING BITES
"Our team's good, and Sac State is good. Sometimes you have to abandon all distractions and fears and cut loose to find yourself again, and we did that tonight. I want to give credit to Sac State too, they did some good things that put a lot of pressure on us. In the end, we had some fire and executed and really were going for it and the results indicated that. It was a good finish and we'll take it."
 
SELBIE SAYS
"Tonight we showed our grit. It definitely wasn't the kind of win that's easy or pretty by any means, but we did a good job of really sticking together and when the going got rough, we looked at each other and made sure we knew it was a team effort. It took a little bit to get going and we needed to find that fire within us and really work on executing, and in the end we did it." – Selbie Christensen
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's heads home next weekend with a pair of matches inside University Credit Union Pavilion. The Gaels will host CSU Bakersfield at 7:00 pm on Friday, September 10, and then take on Utah State on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm. Both CSU Bakersfield and Utah State will play in a neutral-site match on Friday at 11:00 am.
 
#GaelsRise — Single game tickets are on sale through the month of September! To select your game and your tickets, click HERE!