MALIBU, Calif. — It's never an easy task to go on the road and take on a ranked team, and it's even more difficult to take a set in that scenario. That's exactly what Saint Mary's Volleyball did on Saturday afternoon in Malibu, going up against the 20^th-ranked team in the country in Pepperdine. The Gaels staved off elimination by winning the third set 25-19, but wound up dropping the first, second and fourth sets en route to a four-set defeat. The Gaels now sit at 3-3 in WCC play with an overall record of 6-8 as they head back home to Moraga.
 
STAYING ALIVE
After dropping the first two sets, it could have been easy for the Gaels to lay down and surrender, but that was not their mentality. They opened up the third set on a 5-0 run, led by kills from Kjersti Strong and Genevieve Bane. After a quick timeout from the Waves, they were able to storm back to make it a 9-8 SMC lead, but again the Gaels used a run of four points to pull ahead. Their third run of four points or more in the set came when they led 16-12, and that effectively put the game away, with three-straight attack errors helping the Gaels lead 20-12. Saint Mary's was clearly the better team in the third set, and that set win gave them loads of confidence.
 
PEPPERDINE COUNTERS
The Waves delivered a strong counterpunch in the fourth set, after the Gaels tied the match at 5-5 thanks to an ace from Abby Castillon. Pepperdine scored 10 of the next 11 points to take a tie score and turn it into a 15-6 Waves lead, effectively ending any chance the Gaels had at sending it to a fifth set. For all the struggles Pepperdine had in the third set, they put those to bed in the fourth set, hitting an even .400 in the final stanza after getting out-hit in the second and third sets by the Gaels.
 
THE FINAL NUMBERS
The Gaels had to two strong performances from attackers: Hawley Harrer led the charge with a 13-kill, one-error performance to pace the pack…Strong was second on the Gaels attack with 10 kills and a team-best .320 hitting percentage, six block assists, and 40% kill-rate…for Strong, it is the fourth time this season that she has recorded at least 10 kills in a match…Ella Sandt had all the team's assists for a while, and finished 30 of the 34 recorded in the match…Makenna Joyce led the way in digs with 14…both teams were even with seven total blocks and nearly identical in service errors and attack errors.
 
UP NEXT
It's been a while since the Gaels have played at home, but SMC will have back-to-back home matches this week for the first time in conference play. The Gaels host No. 14 BYU on Thursday night at 7:00 pm before welcoming in No. 4. San Diego on Saturday at 1:00 pm. This two-game stretch is the most difficult the Gaels have on the schedule this year, which will happen again in November.