MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Volleyball (9-14, 5-9 WCC) is hitting its stride as the college volleyball season begins to wind down. An extremely young team at the start of the season, the team has grown together as the year has worn on, and is now playing some of the best volleyball they've displayed all season. With four contests left, the Gaels will look to finish the season on a high note, as they will host Pepperdine (14-10, 11-3 WCC) before heading south to nearby Santa Clara (8-16, 4-11 WCC) in the second from the last week of the season.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels vs Pepperdine Waves
Thursday, November 21 at 7 PM
UCU Pavilion – Moraga, Calif.
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Saint Mary's Gaels at Santa Clara Broncos
Saturday, November 23 at 1 PM
Leavey Center – Santa Clara, Calif.
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A LOOK AT THE STANDINGS
While a WCC Title is no longer in play for the Gaels, they still have an opportunity for a top five finish in the conference if they continue their red-hot play. The Gaels currently sit in eighth place in the 11 team conference, but are just two games behind fifth place San Francisco with four games to go. The Gaels have 3rd place Pepperdine, 10th place Santa Clara, 9th place Portland and 2nd place San Diego to close out their season. Saint Mary's played extremely well on the road against Pepperdine, and will take them on this time with the home crowd behind them, and downed Santa Clara in five at home just three weeks ago. The Gaels were swept by Portland on the road and San Diego at home earlier this season. Saint Mary's needs to go at least 2-2 in their final four matches in order to be in consideration for a top five finish, which would be their third top-five finish in the last four years. The Gaels were picked to finish in seventh place in the preseason WCC Coaches Poll.
MAJOR BLOCKING STRIDES
Through the first 10 matches of the season, Saint Mary's only had one match in which they recorded double digit blocks, averaging only 6.7 blocks per contest. Over their next 13, they've recorded six, and averaged 8.8 blocks per game. This has clearly shown the major growth from the Gaels two true freshman middle blockers, Kaliko Kealoha and Tessa Schouten. In their first 10 games, Kealoha recorded 25 total blocks (2.5 per game), while Schouten went for 29 (2.9 per game). Since that point, Kealoha has recorded 47 (3.6 per game) and Schouten has tallied 44 (3.4 per game). At the start of conference play, the Gaels averaged 1.85 blocks per set, however, they have seen that number climb to 2.11 blocks per set now.
ABOUT THE WAVES
Defending WCC champs Pepperdine have an uphill climb to defend their title, as they currently sit two games behind conference front runner LMU, and have dropped both of their meetings with LMU, meaning they must win the conference over the Lions outright to earn the automatic national tournament bid. Head Coach Scott Wong will have four contests to try and leapfrog the Lions, and doesn't have the easiest path to do so, a path that starts with the red-hot Gaels in Moraga. The Waves have a two-headed monster on the attack, in the forms of Grace Chillingworth and Birdie Hendrickson. The two rank second and third in kills per set in the WCC respectively, and do an combined for 39 of the Waves 70 kills against the Gaels in their meeting in Malibu on October 17. The most effective attacker for Pepperdine against the Gaels, however, was opposite Riley Simpson, who logged 15 kills on 28 swings on and no attack errors. Despite the stellar hitting for the Waves, the Gaels hung tough in their previous meeting this year, playing to a one set apiece scoreline, and taking a 24-21 lead in set three, but the Waves rallied back to win that third set 29-27, and took the decisive fourth 25-18 to push their all-time record against the Gaels to 58-16. The Gaels have not beaten the Waves since 2019, but hope that matchup number 75 will result in an upset home victory.
ABOUT THE BRONCOS
Santa Clara has been struggling in the latter half of conference play, as they have dropped six of their last seven contests, including a matchup with the Gaels on November 2. Sixth year Head Coach Erin Lindsey will look for her first win over Saint Mary's since 2022, after the Broncos have dropped each of their last three matchups with the Gaels. The Broncos have had a solid distribution amongst their attackers, with four averaging at least 2 kills per set. That was on display against the Gaels earlier this month, when Alayna Crabtree (18), Elena Radeff (13), Oren Abutbul (12), Lauren Grover (11), and Grace Flanagan (10) all recorded double-digit kills. Despite the strong attacking performance from the Broncos, it was the Gaels stellar defense (65 digs and 13 blocks) that led them to a five set victory. Santa Clara leads the all-time series 44-33.
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