SAN FRANCISCO — The Saint Mary's Gaels (4-8, 0-3 WCC) put up another formidable attacking performance, but were unable to cool off the red-hot San Francisco Dons (9-5, 2-0 WCC), dropping Thursday night's contest in straight sets. While the 0-3 WCC start is not the start Gaels fans may have hoped for, Saint Mary's did begin WCC play 0-3 last year as well, before finishing 10-6 in conference play, good for fourth.
Saint Mary's came out of the gates hot in set one, building an early 3-0 lead with kills from Genevieve Bane and Kaliko Kealoha. The Dons would quickly respond with a 4-0 run of their own, prompting the first of seven lead changes in the first frame. A USF service error gave the Gaels a narrow 18-17 lead, but the Dons responded with a 5-0 run to go ahead 22-18, putting Saint Mary's back against the wall. The Gaels punched all the way back to a 23 all deadlock, but San Francisco finished out the set with the final two points they needed to narrowly take st one. Abby Castillon and Clarissa Klein both had an errorless, three kill set one, with Castillon adding five digs.
Set two once again saw Saint Mary's build an early narrow lead, this time at 9-8, that would be erased by a long Dons' service run. This time, it was a 7-0 run for San Francisco that gave them the separation they would need to eventually take set two at 25-17. Set two was the Gaels best statistically in the match, but a barrage of 19 kills in the second stanza for the Dons was too much to overcome. In this set, Abby Castillon was joined by Hannah Taylor as the team's leader, each with four kills and just one error between the duo.
The third and final set saw the Gaels battle out of an early 11-7 deficit to get within one at 15-14, but San Francisco closed things out on a 10-3 run to earn the sweep in front of their home fans, their fourth straight victory. Clarissa Klein made the most of six swings in the final set, with three kills to just one error.
Clarissa Klein led the attack for the Gaels with nine kills on 19 swings and just one error. It was the second time she's hit over 0.400 this season, and third time in her career. Abby Castillon finished right behind her with eight, while Hannah Taylor tallied seven. Hailee Garcia had a team-high 17 assists, while Madi Zorn logged 13. Castillon led the Gaels with 13 digs and three service aces, while five different Gaels (Castillon, Taylor, Kealoha, Klein and Tessa Schouten) each got their hands on one block.
DOING IT ALL
This phrase embodies how Abby Castillon played for the Gaels tonight. The junior out of Modesto finished second on the team with eight kills, while finishing first or tied for first for service aces (3), digs (13) and blocks (1). While not the outright leader in any stat category this season, Castillon ranks third on the team with 102 kills, fourth (amongst hitters) hitting 0.228, second with 11 service aces and 124 digs and fifth with 13 total blocks. No other Gael on roster ranks in the top five in every one of those categories.
ERRORLESS FROM THE MIDDLE
Kaliko Kealoha and Tessa Schouten combined for eight kills on 13 swings and no errors, as the middle blocking duo swung at 0.615 on the night. This is the first time that both of the true freshman middle blockers combined to go errorless in a match. For Kealoha, she has not committed an attack error since the 9/20 matchup with Seattle. The duo is hitting a combined 0.275 for the season, ranking first and second amongst hitters in hitting percentage, with Schouten checking in at 0.281 and Kealoha at 0.269.
UP NEXT
The Gaels will have the weekend off, and will next be in action on Thursday, October 10 as they host Gonzaga. First serve is set for 7 PM.
DON'T MISS OUT ON HOME VOLLEYBALL ACTION. TICKETS ARE ON SALE HERE.
#GaelsRise
