MORAGA, Calif. — Returning home after one of their longest road trips of the year, the Saint Mary's Gaels (5-13, 1-8 WCC) could not pick up the win at home against San Diego (12-7, 7-2 WCC), falling in three. The Gaels made things tighter and tighter against the Toreros with each and every set, but could not best their WCC foe from Southern California in any of the three.
After falling behind 3-0 early in set one, the Gaels rattled off six straight points with a run that featured three Clarissa Klein kills. San Diego would regain the lead at 10-9, and while the Gaels would draw level at 10 apiece, the Toreros would close the set out on a 15-3 run to cruise to a 1-0 lead. In total, Klein recorded five of the Gaels eight set one kills.
Again, Saint Mary's built an early lead, this time at 8-6 in the second set, this time building the lead with a pair of aces from Hailee Garcia and Kaliko Kealoha. San Diego erased the deficit, this time with a 3-0 run, and would not relinquish that lead for the remainder of the set, taking set two 25-18. True freshman Gracie Vohs had the best set of her young career, with three kills on three swings, while Hailee Garcia totalled five assists, five digs and an ace.
The Gaels took an early 3-2 lead in the final set, but San Diego responded with a 7-0 run. They extended their lead out to 15-6, but Saint Mary's began to show life late in the third frame. A trio of Genevieve Bane service aces got the Gaels to within four at 24-20, but eventually fell 25-20. On top of Bane's three aces, Hannah Taylor added four kills as the Gaels leading third set scorers.
Hannah Taylor and Clarissa Klein each tallied eight kills to pace the Gaels. Hailee Garcia assisted on 17 of the Gaels 32 kills, while Genevieve Bane recorded three aces in a match for the fourth time this season. Natalie Peete came up with a team-best 10 digs defensively, while Bane and Tessa Schouten each recorded a block solo.
THIRD STRAIGHT FROM BANE
Genevieve Bane reached the 200 kill mark for the third consecutive season today. Bane is on pace for 302 kills this season. She is currently the Saint Mary's active kills leader with 691, only in her junior season.
A MILESTONE FOR KLEIN
Called upon for the third time this season to play full rotation outside hitter, Clarissa Klein once again answered the bell, tallying a team-high eight kills to go along with three digs. With those three digs, Klein reached triple digit digs for her career. Her 101 digs go along with her 308 kills and 113 blocks in just under two full seasons of play. Klein joins Genevieve Bane as the only two active Gaels with triple digit kills, blocks and digs.
UP NEXT
The Gaels will host San Francisco on Halloween. Thursday's first serve is set for 7 PM.
DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME VOLLEYBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE.
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