SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Volleyball has been mired in a six-game losing streak, and along the way that had been victorious in just two sets. Going up against a team in Santa Clara that entered the day above them in the standings, one might assume that it would have been more of the same for the Gaels. Not the case, and Saint Mary's played one of its best matches in WCC play all season to sweep the Broncos at their place for an impressive win with finals of 27-25, 25-22, and 25-19. With the victory, the Gaels improve to 7-11 (4-6) while dropping the Broncos to 8-14 (4-6).
 
TRADING POINTS
Despite the Gaels holding an early 10-5 lead in the first set, the rest of the set came down the wire, leading to bonus points and a 27-25 finish in favor of SMC. The Broncos used a 5-0 run to take a 20-19 lead late, and that's when the Gaels began to trade points with SCU. It started by a kill from Kristen Erland, and eventually the Gaels became the first team with a chance at set point after a block from Kjersti Strong and Ella Sandt. The Broncos answered, and so too did Genevieve Bane, who made it 25-24 with a kill. The Broncos again responded to tie it, but then Bane and Hawley Harrer slammed down some kills to cap off a big first set win to set the tone for the rest of the day.
 
LEARNING HOW TO FINISH
So much of the struggles during the recent losing skid for the Gaels has been rooted in not being able to close out sets. It looked like the second set might be more of the same, after the Gaels had a 21-18 lead before a timeout called by the Broncos. They came out of the pause by scoring the next four points, suddenly taking a 22-21 lead and leading to a Saint Mary's timeout. That was a perfectly timed break, as the Gaels came out of the timeout and got a kill from Strong, which brought Kate Blackwell to the service line. She delivered in the biggest way she has this season, with three-consecutive service aces (setting a career-high), and Blackwell closed out the set with a Gaels win.
 
VIEVER FEVER
A lot of recent performances for Genevieve Bane have gone in a similar way. About four or five kills, a handful of digs, and she hasn't been quite as effective from the service line. That turned around in a big way on Saturday, pacing the Gaels with 12 kills. She paired that with just one error for a tidy hitting percentage of .324, one of her most efficient performances of the year. She also added seven digs and three service aces to tie for the team lead in that department. Getting a secondary outside option going aside from Harrer could be a big boost for the Gaels down the stretch.
 
THE FINAL NUMBERS
Harrer was second on the team in kills with 11…the Gaels as a team hit .303, which means just seven errors on 119 swings, one of their best marks of the season…SMC got a massive performance from Sandt, who paired 32 assists with a career-best 16 digs, two block assists, and an ace…Joyce added 14 digs, part of 54 for the Gaels, tied for their most in a three-set match this season.
 
QUOTABLES
"Really proud of how the team performed today. We bounced back in a big way after Thursday's loss. It was a gritty performance and a good win against a good team." – head coach, Rob Browning
 
"It was a good, hard-fought win from the entire team. We all battled and stayed consistent from s tart to finish. The consistency with our offense was on from the beginning and we made a lot of very scrappy defensive plays. It was an all-around team effort and a great win." – Makenna Joyce
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will now enjoy a stretch of six of their final eight games of the season at home, beginning on Friday night against Pacific. SMC and UoP will begin play at 7:00 pm inside University Credit Union Pavilion, with Saint Mary's attempting to get back at the Tigers after falling in three sets at their place back in September.