MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Volleyball (9-9, 3-3) has seemed to right the ship, notching their third consecutive WCC victory, defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs (3-14, 0-6) in four sets (27-25, 18-25, 25-15, 25-20). In an all-around team effort, the Gaels were able to shirk their short dry-spells in this contest, and were able to consistently swing momentum in their favor with timely plays on both sides of the net. 

SERVE GAME ON POINT
The Gaels put together a 14 service ace night this evening, their best tally this season. Leading the charge on this front were Saint Mary's Makenna Joyce and Abby Castillon, each with three. The three aces brought Joyce to 25 on the season, a new career-mark for a single season, while the three for Castillon tied her career-high for a single match. Even more impressively, the Gaels, who often hunt aces in a "high risk-high reward" method, only committed six service errors in the match. The 14:6 ace to error ratio was their best mark on the season. 

DENIED, TIME AND TIME AGAIN
Saint Mary's fearsome block was on display yet again this evening, as they denied 16 Bulldog attacks via the roof. After being named WCC Defensive Player of the Week, Kjersti Strong looks poised to earn the award in back-to-back weeks, as she set yet another career-high with 11 blocks on the evening. With her incredible performances all season long, Strong has now eclipsed the triple digit mark in blocks, becoming the first Gael to do so since Boo Laird in 2021. Also putting up strong blocking efforts tonight were Hannah Taylor and Clarissa Klein, each with five total blocks. 

MORE CAREER-HIGHS TO TALK ABOUT
Already mentioned have been Abby Castillon's service ace tally and Kjersti Strong's total block mark, but those weren't the only two career-best marks that were tied or fell this evening. Leading the attack for the Gaels was Genevieve Bane, who tallied 16 kills, matching her career-best set against Portland State earlier this season. On the defensive front, it was Abby Castillon, who played as if she were a second libero on the court, totalling 13 digs, matching her best mark set already twice this season. As the Gaels two starting outside hitters, Bane and Castillon have picked the right time to get hot midway through the conference slate. 

QUOTABLE
"Once we put our hitting and passing together around the third set, we really dominated. It was really good for us to be able to put it all together and see it click." – Abby Castillon

"I was very impressed with our teams ability to fight back from some adversity. Gonzaga really picked up their game toward the end of the first set and starting the second set, but our team regrouped and took over from there. I'm especially proud of our passers. They struggled in the first set but we had a little powwow and they did much better after that. Our passers were really tough after that. Gonzaga is a very good serving team and we handled their serves so much better after the first set. We also started to serve a lot tougher and that helped us. Offensively we put up big numbers in the third and fourth sets. Always love to see that. Our blocking can be pretty smothering and it was tonight for big chunks of the match." -- Head Coach Rob Browning

UP NEXT
The Gaels will have a quick turnaround, as they welcome the Portland Pilots to town on Saturday, October 14. First serve is set for 1 PM inside UCU Pavilion. 

DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME VOLLEYBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE.

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