LOS ANGELES — Saint Mary's (6-7, 0-1) opened WCC play on the road this evening, taking on the LMU Lions (8-3, 1-0), a team that received votes in the latest national polls. The Gaels fought hard to keep each set tight, but when the dust all settled, it was the Lions, who earned their fourth consecutive sweep victory (22-25, 21-25, 21-25).
MAKING THINGS INTERESTING
The Gaels kept things close in each of the three sets against the host Lions. Set one saw Saint Mary's set the tone early, taking an early 9-4 lead, sparked by a pair of Hannah Taylor kills. The Lions responded to tie things up at 13, 15, and 17 apiece before going on a 4-1 run to seize momentum, eventually taking the set 25-22. Set two began as a back-and-forth affair, with the Gaels taking an early 9-8 lead, before LMU went on a 8-0 run to once again seize momentum. Down, but not out, the Gaels kept their cool, responding with a 12-6 run, to bring the deficit to one at 22-21. Unfortunately, Saint Mary's ran out of gas just short of the finish line for set two, surrendering each of the final three points to finish out the frame at 25-21. The final set was all Lions early, as they worked their way to a 13-4 lead. Again, the Gaels showed resilience, chipping away at the hefty margin, to knot things up at 19. Genevieve Bane led the charge in the Gaels massive 15-6 run, with three kills to her name over that stretch. After the fearsome comeback attempt, the Gaels were not quite able to pull ahead, as LMU closed the match on a 6-2 run to finish out the sweep.
TOP HEAVY DISTRIBUTION
A trio of Gaels tied for the team lead with eight kills, with each one of those attackers taking 20+ swings in the match. Kjersti Strong reached the eight kill mark in the fewest swings, as the middle blocker finished with 21 attacks and just three errors, for a team-best 0.238 attack percentage. Opposite Hannah Taylor reached eight kills on 30 swings, but also was dinged for eight errors. Rounding out the group was outside hitter Genevieve Bane, who tallied her eight kills on 33 swings and five errors. It should come as no surprise that this trio sat atop the kills tally for the Gaels as all three have reached triple digits in kills for the season.
SERVE/RECEPTION IMPROVEMENTS
The Gaels continue to find consistency in their serve and serve reception categories. After recording 29 service errors over a two match stretch last week against San Jose State and Cal Poly, the Saint Mary's has rebounded to commit just 12 service errors in their last two matchups, their second lowest over a two game span this season. Serve reception has shown improvements as well, as the Gaels recorded just four service reception errors tonight, after totaling 10 against Washington last Saturday.
50 FOR JOYCE
With her three service aces tonight,
Makenna Joyce surpassed
Genevieve Bane for second amongst active Gaels with 51 service aces. Joyce joins
Ella Sandt as the only two active Gaels with 50+ service aces, as Sandt currently sits with 76. To go along with her solid ace total, Joyce also is the active leader for digs on the Gael squad with 643.
UP NEXT
The Gaels will take on San Diego at the Jenny Craig Center on Saturday. First serve is set for 12 PM.
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