MORAGA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (9-14, 5-9 WCC) continued their WCC NorCal dominance, moving to 3-1 on the season, and 9-1 over the past two seasons against their regional conference rivals, downing Pacific (16-11, 6-9 WCC) in Moraga. The Gaels were efficient on offense, and continued to impress on defense, as they picked up their third straight home victory and their fourth in their last five contests
Saint Mary's jumped out to an early lead in set one in front of one of their largest crowds of the season. Using kills from five different players, the Gaels built an early 8-4 lead. The Tigers chipped away at the deficit to tie things up at 18 apiece, before taking their first lead at 20-19. The two teams would trade side outs to a 23-22 lead for Pacific before the Gaels polished off the final three points of the set on a pair of Hannah Taylor kills and one from Genevieve Bane. Saint Mary's hit at 0.366 in the first set, with five kills from Taylor, and four with no errors from Clarissa Klein. Defensively, the Gaels held the Tigers to hitting just 0.186 in the first frame, thanks to seven digs from Natalie Peete.
Set two was not nearly as close as set one, as the Gaels used an early 4-0 run to go ahead 11-5 and never looked back in the second stanza, never trailing for the set. Again, the Gaels hit 0.366, as Clarissa Klein added five more kills to just one error in the second frame, bringing her one kill away from double-digits through two sets, and more importantly, giving the Gaels a commanding 2-0 lead.
The Tigers returned the favor with a rather dominant set three, opening up the frame on a 6-1 run and never trailing to force a set four. The Gaels did rally to cut the deficit to four points late at 23-19, but ran out of gas, as Pacific took the set 25-19. Tessa Schouten notched a pair of kills and a pair blocks as the biggest contributor in set three for the Gaels.
Despite the inability to close out the match in three sets, the Gaels stayed focused and eventually closed things out in four. After playing to a five all stalemate, the Gaels rattled off five straight, and rode that momentous wave to the 25-20 set four victory to finish out the match in four. Defense was the name of the game in the final set, with Katherine Gee, getting the nod at libero in the final frame, logging nine digs, and Tessa Schouten getting her hands on four of the Gaels five set four blocks.
A trio of Gaels recorded double-digit kills. Genevieve Bane led the way with 13, while Clarissa Klein and Hannah Taylor each added 11. It was the second time over this recent home winning streak that the Gaels had three in double figures for kills. Bane also added 12 digs for her sixth double-double of the season, and her second in as many matches. Hailee Garcia and Madi Zorn each chipped in 21 assists, with Zorn, along with Katherine Gee and Kaliko Kealoha, each accounting for one of the Gaels three aces. On the back row defensively, Abby Castillon led the way with 15 digs, her third consecutive double-digit dig match, while Natalie Peete notched 14. At the net, Tessa Schouten tied her career-high with seven blocks, as she was involved in more than half of the Gaels season-high (tied) 13 blocks.
IMPENETRABLE BLOCK
For the sixth time this season, and third time in a four set match, the Gaels recorded 13 blocks to stymie the Pacific attack. The Gaels had just five blocks in the first two sets, but recorded eight over the next two to salt away the victory. Tessa Schouten matched her career high with seven rejections, while Hannah Taylor added five. The Gaels block has come a long way from the start of the season. After having just one double-digit blocking match through the first 10 matches, they've now recorded six over their next 13.
TRIO IN DOUBLE DIGITS *2
The Gaels had three players record double digit kills and three players record double digit digs tonight, headlined by Genevieve Bane, who did so in both categories for her second consecutive double-double. Joining Bane on the double-digit kill front were opposite Hannah Taylor and Clarissa Klein. On the digs front, joining Bane were Natalie Peete and Abby Castillon. This is the sixth time that the Gaels have accomplished this feat, doing so also against San Francisco (10/31), Oregon State (10/24), Washington State (10/12), LMU (9/28), Cal (9/10) and Arkansas (8/30).
QUOTABLE
"I'm really happy with today's performance. Our team keeps pressing forward, totally committed to getting better every day. You can see the fruits of their labors. Everyone knows that Pacific is a very good team with lots of experience. We were able to stay on top and on task for almost the entire match and that's not easy to do against a good team like this. I'm so proud of our team, and not just those who are on the court; our team is deep and everyone has worked hard to get to where we are now. I know they will be ready to get back to work on Monday!" -- Head Coach
Rob Browning
"It's so easy to get discouraged when you drop a couple of games, but we've been working so hard at practice. We're all in this together, win or lose, and that mentality keeps us hungry in each and every match and that showed in today's victory" – Redshirt Sophomore Opposite Clarissa Klein
UP NEXT
The Gaels will host Pepperdine on Thursday, November 21. First serve is set for 7 PM.
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