MORAGA, Calif. — Coming into the 2024 volleyball season, there were many questions about the Gaels. With the graduation of their kills, assists, aces, digs and blocks leaders, and an incoming class of five freshmen and three transfers, many wondered who the next Saint Mary's stars would be. The young team suffered through some growing pains, including a 5-13 start and a 1-8 conference start, but battled back to win five of their last nine, ultimately reaching double-digit wins for the second consecutive season and sixth time in the last 10 seasons. 

The Gaels dropped each of their first four matches, however, the 0-4 start was deceptive compared to how the Gaels played, taking Power-Four opponents Arkansas and Cal to five sets. The first win led to a cluster of wins for the Gaels, as they would rattle off four straight over Oral Roberts, Cal State Fullerton, Air Force and Seattle, dropping just one set in that four game stretch. Non-conference play finished up with a tough loss against a then unbeaten San Jose State squad. 

Conference play opened with a real gut check for the Gaels, who were able to take just one set in each of their first three matches. They rallied back with three straight strong performances against Gonzaga, Washington State and Pepperdine, sweeping the Zags and pushing both the Cougars and Waves to the brink, but were only able to walk away with one win in that stretch. Three more consecutive losses to LMU, Oregon State and San Diego saw the Gaels sitting at 1-8 to open conference play. Things turned as October came to an and November began. The Gaels picked up their second conference win over San Francisco on Halloween in five, avenging a sweep from earlier in the season against the Dons. They made it back-to-back five set home wins, downing Santa Clara at home, before sweeping Gonzaga to notch their longest winning streak in conference play. Saint Mary's dropped a four set heartbreaker in Pullman to Washington State, bringing the streak to an end, but responded with a four set win over Pacific in their lone meeting of the campaign to move to 5-9 and in conference play, putting them in eighth place, and within striking distance of a top-five finish in the WCC for a second consecutive season. Unfortunately, the Gaels would drop three of their next four, but were able to celebrate senior day with a four set come from behind victory over Portland, finishing the year at 10-17 and 6-12 in WCC play, good for ninth out of 11 teams. 

As a team, the Gaels hit at 0.219, their best since the 2021 season. They hit over 0.250 in nine matches on the season, finishing with a record of 7-2 in those matches. A preseason All-Conference selectee, Genevieve Bane was a force to be reckoned with offensively, tallying 344 kills, the most by a Gael in a single season since Samantha Tinsley tallied 351 in 2014. Bane also finished her season with nine consecutive double-digit kills matches, tying her for the longest streak since 2014 when Natalie Loos went for nine straight. Bane was twice named the Saint Mary's Shamrock Office Solutions Student-Athlete of the Week, first in the second week of the season, when she tallied 37 kills, 25 digs and just five errors against Cal, Oral Roberts and Cal State Fullerton, and then again following a 13 kill, 12 dig double-double against Pacific, one of her seven on the season. Bane set a career-high with 22 kills against Washington State in Pullman, one of 10 matches this season in which she surpassed 15 kills. She also led the Gaels with 32 service aces. Bane was selected as a first team All-WCC honoree, after earning honorable mention status a year ago. 

Returning starter Hailee Garcia and redshirt sophomore Madi Zorn split time at the setter position this year in the Gaels 6-2 rotation. Garcia shifted into the role of setter one following the graduation of Ella Sandt, while Zorn shifted into Garcia's role from a year ago. Garcia led the way with 568 assists, with Zorn not far behind with 402. Garcia finished out her junior campaign with seven double-doubles on the season, and set a career-high with 39 assists and two blocks in the penultimate match of the year vs Portland, and a career-high five kills in the final match of the year at San Diego. In her first season as a setter after being a serving specialist last year, Zorn recorded three double-doubles on the campaign, including a 21 assist, 10 digs performance in the Gaels thrilling Halloween five set victory over San Francisco. She set a career-high with 27 assists early on in the season against Cal. Garcia and Zorn also finished second and third on the team with 29 and 28 service aces respectively. 

Defense was an adventure for the Gaels this season, who lost both starting middle blockers and their starting libero from a year ago. Katherine Gee, a junior transfer from Feather River College, started nine of the first ten matches for the Gaels, and put on a clinic against Air Force with 29 digs, the ninth most in program history in a three set match. Early on in conference play, however, the Gaels shifted to Natalie Peete at libero, a redshirt freshman who was on the roster a season ago but did not see the floor. Peete would start the next 14 matches. Peete had a solid stretch of eight straight matches with double-digit digs, including a career-high 23 in a five set victory over Santa Clara. In the final three matches of the season, the Gaels went back to Gee, who closed out with 24 digs in the final weekend of the season against Portland and San Diego. With the platoon play at libero, it was actually junior outside hitter Abby Castillon who led the team with 249 digs, with Peete finishing in second with 234. Hailee Garcia also reached the 200 mark with 217, followed by Bane (194) and Gee (187). At middle blocker, the Gaels brought in a trio of freshman who all saw time. Tessa Schouten appeared in all but one match, and led the Gaels middles with 107 kills and 81 blocks. Kealoha was next, also appearing in 26 of 27 matches, with 78 kills and 78 blocks. Evelyn Hendrix started the final two matches of the year, and hit at 0.364 with five kills and 11 swings on just one error, and tallied seven blocks. The Gaels middles hit at 0.283 for the season, and helped lead the Gaels to seven double-digit block contests. 

The Gaels had two graduating seniors on their team, as starting opposites Hannah Taylor and Clarissa Klein enjoyed strong final seasons in Gael uniforms. Taylor finished second on the Gaels with 250 kills, appearing in all but one set for the Gaels. In her very first match of the season, she set a career high with 18 kills in a narrow defeat at the hands of Arkansas. She finished with a 0.238 hitting percentage, the best amongst qualifying Gaels hitters. Clarissa Klein was not far behind Taylor, with 206 kills after missing the final two matches of her SMC career with an injury. Klein also had a career-high tally of 18 kills set in her senior campaign, with hers coming at home against Washington State. Klein and Taylor each totalled 49 blocks, tied for third amongst Gaels this season. At the culmination of the season, Klein was honored as an honorable mention All-WCC performer. 

As we look at major milestones reached and new names in the Gaels record book at the outset of 2024, quite a few Gaels had momentous moments on the year. Genevieve Bane reached the 800 kill mark for her career, with one more year of eligibility to go. Hannah Taylor made it to 500 kills for her career, graduating with 502 over her two seasons as a Gael. Hailee Garcia reached 1000 assists midway through the season, while Bane got to 500 digs. Taylor, Bane and Clarissa Klein all reached triple digit blocks for their careers by the end of the season. Tessa Schouten's 0.304 hitting percentage qualifies her to rank fifth all-time in career hitting percentage, as she hopes to keep that number trending upward throughout her career, while Bane crept into the top-10 with now 97 service aces for her career, good to tie for eighth all-time. 

#GaelsRise