MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Volleyball wrapped up non-conference play on Thursday night with a home matchup against the Cal Golden Bears. The Gaels entered the match hot, winning three-consecutive matches and playing much better volleyball during that stretch. They did a lot of things well in Thursday's tilt with Cal, but the Golden Bears were just a bit better, and they wound up sweeping the Gaels with finals of 29-27, 25-21, and 25-18. Saint Mary's finishes non-conference play 3-5 while Cal improves to 6-3.
 
DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER
From a fan's perspective, the opening set was about as entertaining as it gets. The Gaels and Golden Bears endured 15 tie scores and six lead changes en route to a 29-27 Cal win in the opening stanza. Cal held the largest lead of the set, with a three-point advantage as late 20-17. That's when the Gaels got themselves back in the match and tied it at 21-21 on a Hawley Harrer kill. After Cal went up 24-22, the Gaels scored the next three points and had set point after a Megan Chandler Allred kill. Three times the Gaels had set point but could not close it out after Cal came back from the brink, and they eventually put it away with the final three points.
 
STILL RIGHT THERE
As easy as it might have been to feel let down from the opening set, the Gaels responded well in the second and third sets. Saint Mary's opened the second set on a 5-0 run, including a pair of aces from Ella Sandt, but Cal eventually had enough to get back in the match and take over late. In the third set, SMC fell into an early 8-3 hole but then scored five-straight points to tie the match, including three kills during that run from Kjersti Strong. Saint Mary's could never pull ahead in that set, however, and eventually dropped five of the last six points to succumb to the sweep.
 
AMONG OTHER NUMBERS
Genevieve Bane was the Gaels leading attacker, finishing the night with nine kills, including eight in the first two sets…Saint Mary's lost the net battle on Thursday, allowing 14 blocks to Cal, including seven total to Sophie Scott…Strong was the best attacker at the net for SMC, with eight kills and four total blocks…Makenna Joyce once again paced the defense with 16 digs, giving her 10+ digs in all but once match this season…after hitting .225 in the opening set, the Gaels never hit above .105 the rest of the match.
 
QUOTABLE
"I told them at the end of the first set, 'keep doing what you're doing.' Improve in a couple of small areas, but we were playing fine. I thought we were playing well against a good team and going toe-to-toe with them and in a set like that, a couple of ball bounces the wrong way or the right way for you makes a difference. And that happened a couple of times. But I thought we came out fine and for most of the match, I thought we played pretty well." – head coach Rob Browning
 
UP NEXT
West Coast Conference play is on the horizon after the Gaels enjoy the weekend off. Saint Mary's will have several days to prepare for their first WCC road trip, which begins on Wednesday afternoon at Portland, with first serve scheduled for 12:00 pm. SMC will see Portland and Gonzaga on the road trip, with five of the first six WCC games scheduled away from home.