PORTLAND, Ore. — Saint Mary's Volleyball gets West Coast Conference play rolling this week with their first two matches in conference play. The Gaels will begin with five of their first six conference matches away from home, including a trip to the Northwest in week one of WCC play. The Portland Pilots will host SMC on Wednesday afternoon before the Gaels head further north to Gonzaga to take on the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels (3-5) at Portland Pilots (7-4)
Wednesday, September 21 at 12:00 pm
Chiles Center – Portland, Ore.
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Saint Mary's Gaels at Gonzaga Bulldogs (3-7)
Saturday, September 24 at 12:00 pm
Charlotte Y. Martin Centre – Spokane, Wash.
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LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels closed out non-conference play by splitting their most recent week of play, which included a five-set win on the road at UC Davis. The Gaels were down 2-1 in that match, but escaped with a 25-23 win in the fourth set before powering past the Aggies to take the decisive fifth set. Two nights later, Saint Mary's hosted Cal and dropped the match in three sets, but made the Golden Bears work for all three set wins. The first set was the most thrilling of the night, with Saint Mary's have three cracks at set point before dropping the set 29-27.
 
NUMBERS FROM CAL
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…Kjersti 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.
 
ABOUT PORTLAND
The Pilots appear to be a much-improved team in the 2022 season, indicated by their 7-4 start in non-conference play. Five of their first six matches were victories, including sweeping through the Sacramento State Invitational to open the season. They closed out non-conference play with wins over Portland State and Seattle in the Portland North Marriott Invitational, the best non-conference start they've had with Meg Burton as head coach. They've been great from the service line so far, with 78 aces, and they are one of the few teams with more aces than errors (71).
 
ABOUT GONZAGA
The Zags have struggled so far during the 2022 season, with the worst non-conference record of any West Coast Conference team. They ended non-conference play with a win against Eastern Washington on September 13 when they beat the Eagles in four sets. Gonzaga begins conference play against Pacific before they play the Gaels, and they will look to keep up the digging on defense. They lead the WCC with 16.1 digs per set, but their team hitting percentage of .147 is bottom in the conference.