MORAGA, Calif. — It's been a tale of two stretches for the Gaels (4-4). After opening the season with four difficult losses, Saint Mary's has come roaring back to win their next four, with their latest victory coming in the form of a straight set sweep of the Seattle Redhawks (1-7). The Gaels continue to get "better with age" as in their eighth match of the season tonight, they hit a season-high 0.373, besting their previous best set less than 24 hours ago against Air Force (0.274).
The Gaels set the tone early, and never looked back in this one. A 9-8 lead early in set one quickly ballooned to 16-9 thanks to 7-0 run sparked by four Genevieve Bane kills. Even with the two teams trading points to the end, the Gaels' separation was too much for the Redhawks to overcome, as they took set one 25-16. Bane tallied nine kills in the first set alone, accounting for half of the Gaels 18, while Hannah Taylor picked up an errorless five kills. Katherine Gee notched a majority of her digs in the first set, with six.
Again, the Redhawks hung around early in the second stanza, but the Gaels, again with a 9-8 lead, went on a run, this time of the 5-0 variety to once again gain the separation they needed to cruise to a 25-17 set victory. Bane continued her hot play with five second set kills.
The Gaels grabbed the momentum early in the decisive third set, going ahead 10-5, and extending that lead to double digits at 19-9. Seattle mounted a furious comeback attempt with a 6-0 run of their own late to cut the deficit to five, but that was as close as they would get, with Saint Mary's polishing off the sweep with a 25-17 set three win. Hannah Taylor put up another errorless five kill frame, while Abby Castillon stepped up defensively for five digs, bringing her to double digits on the night.
Genevieve Bane matched her career-high with 17 kills tonight, hitting at a stellar 0.419 clip. It was the fourth time in eight matches this season that she has met or surpassed the 15 kill mark. Hannah Taylor also reached double digit kills, with 14 on 26 swings and just one error, for her first match hitting at 0.500 or better this season. Hailee Garcia had her fourth double double of the season with 23 assists and 10 digs, while Madi Zorn added 16 assists. Bane, Garcia and Abby Castillon each notched a service ace on the evening. Castillon also provided seven kills, hitting at a 0.500 clip and 10 digs, one shy of the team high 11 recorded by libero Katherine Gee. Tessa Schouten continued her war path at the net, with two solo blocks and two block assists, getting her hands on four of the eight SMC blocks.
EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE
Those two words are the best way to describe the Gaels attack tonight, as they hit at 0.373, surpassing the 0.300 mark for the first time since last season's finale against Pacific. This was due in big part to the limitation of unforced errors, as SMC had a season low 11 attack errors, and just one that was not the result of a block. Three different Gaels hit over 0.300 individually on the evening. Genevieve Bane not only matched her career high of 17 kills, but did so while hitting at 0.419 on a team high 31 swings. Abby Castillon made the most out of her 12 swings, with seven kills and just one error. Rounding out the group was Hannah Taylor, with 14 kills and just one error, as she, like Castillon, hit at 0.500. Over the past 10 days, Saint Mary's has seen their team hitting percentage jump 41 points, from 0.188 to 0.229.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE GARCIA STYLE
Hailee Garcia notched her fourth double-double of the season, with 23 assists and 10 digs. On top of her pinpoint setting, defense has alway been a strong suit of Garcia's game. Coming into this season, Garcia had three double-doubles in her career. She has now surpassed that number this season alone.
MAKE IT FOUR IN A ROW!
Saint Mary's continues on what has now become a four game winning streak. A season ago, the Gaels enjoyed a pair of 4+ game winning streaks en route to 16 wins. SMC will hope to keep momentum rolling with one final non-conference clash before the start of WCC play.
QUOTABLE
"I think we've broken through on everything we've been working on, and its all coming together at once. We're able to mentally limit runs faster because of this. We are just feeling confident with our play!" –Outside Hitter Genevieve Bane
UP NEXT
The Gaels will cap their three matches in three days stretch with a road contest tomorrow against San Jose State. First serve will be at 5 PM tomorrow.
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