MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (5-11, 1-6 WCC) will look to turn things around this week, as they head to Corvallis to take on Oregon State (5-12, 3-4 WCC) before returning home to host San Diego (10-7, 5-2 WCC). The Gaels have put up strong fights this season against some of the WCC top dogs, including LMU, Pepperdine and Washington State, and now will hope their continued growth will equate to more wins as they wind closer to the halfway point of the conference season.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels at Oregon State Beavers
Thursday, October 24 at 7 PM
Gill Coliseum – Corvallis, Ore.
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Saint Mary's Gaels vs. San Diego Toreros
Saturday, October 26 at 1 PM
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
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KLEIN LEADS THE CHARGE
Of late, no Gael has had a bigger positive impact on the court than Clarissa Klein. The redshirt sophomore has tallied at least seven kills in each of the last seven matches, and has not committed more than two errors in each of her last five matches. Over the last six, Klein has tallied 65 kills, hit at 0.431 and recorded a season high nine digs against Pepperdine last week. Klein's season attack percentage of 0.260 ranks in the top-20 amongst qualifying players in the WCC.
MANDY BIBLE DAY
As announced by the Saint Mary's College Athletic Department, all-time great setter, Mandy Bible, will have her #5 uniform retired and hung in the rafters inside UCU Pavilion. Bible will be the first Saint Mary's Volleyball player in program history to have her number retired. Bible played at Saint Mary's from 2003-06 and holds numerous records including most assists in a single season, best assists per set average in a single season, most career assists, best career assist per set average and most career service aces. She led the Gaels to three straight NCAA Tournament berths, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2004. She was the first ever three time All-WCC honoree for Saint Mary's Volleyball, is a member of the Saint Mary's Athletics Hall of Fame, and is the only Gael Women's Volleyball player in the WCC Hall of Honor. After a seven year professional career in Europe, Bible returned to Moraga, serving as an assistant coach for both the indoor and beach volleyball programs from 2015 to 2021. She was a part of the coaching staff that led the Gaels to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, their most recent trip to volleyball's "Big Dance". She also served in a variety of roles within the Saint Mary's Athletic department, including time spent in the Sports Information and Communications department.
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
New WCC foe Oregon State has found it tough sledding in their first year of a two years stint in the conference, with a record of 5-12 and 3-4 in WCC play. The Beavers are coming off of an 11-19 season a year ago, which was the first year under the direction of Head Coach Lindsey Behonick. Now, Coach Behonick needs seven more wins to surpass that total in her encore performance this season. The Beavers return just one player to this year's starting lineup from last season, Lauren Rumel, who ranks second on the team with 198 kills, after ranking fourth with 182 a season ago. Leading Oregon State in kills this season has been San Diego transfer Annika Hester, with 209. While their offense has been solid, the Beavers have also picked up a solid amount of scoring from behind the service line, with a trio of players, Emma Lilo (22), Vivian Light (20) and Yasemin Narlioglu (15) with at least 15 service aces. Coming off of a five set thriller victory in Spokane, the Beavers could have some tired legs, playing 14 sets in the past three matches. This will be the sixth all-time meeting between the Gaels and Beavers, with Oregon State leading the all-time series 1-4, however, Saint Mary's is 1-0 all-time in Corvallis, winning in their only trip there in 2004.
ABOUT THE TOREROS
The San Diego Toreros won the WCC Title in 2019 and 2022, but find themselves in the middle of the pack in the WCC in the early goings of the 2024 campaign, sitting at 10-7 and 5-2 in conference play. Third place finishers from a season ago, the Toreros are guided by legendary Head Coach Jennifer Petrie in her 26th season. Petrie has seen her team finish outside of the WCC top-three just three times in that span. The Toreros return three starters from last year's squad, headlined by defending WCC Freshman of the Year Nemo Beach and All-WCC selectee Haylee Stoner. They did lose two All-WCC players (Leyla Blackwell and Kylie Pries) to the transfer portal and one (Amber Strivins) to graduation, but were able to replace their production with three stellar true freshman (Kyle Munday, Kennedy Osunsanmi, Isabel Clark) and transfer Kristen Erland, who spent her first three collegiate seasons with the Gaels. The duo of Erland and Stoner has made the Toreros one of the most fearsome blocking teams, not just in the WCC, but in the country. San Diego leads the all-time series 62-14. The Gaels last beat the Toreros in 2018, doing so both at home and on the road.
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