SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Despite playing five sets an evening ago, Saint Mary's (2-8) came out on the front foot today against Cal Baptist (4-7), seizing momentum early, and leaving nothing to chance, polishing off their first sweep of 2025. The Gaels led the Lancers in every stat category today, looking like the aggressor from start to finish en route to their second win of 2025. The Gaels will now look to carry today's into tomorrow's matchup with 20th ranked Utah and straight on through to conference play next week. 

Through the first 16 points of this match, the Gaels and Lancers looked like they'd be neck and neck all match. Knotted up at eight all, the Gaels would throw their first big blow to the tune of a 7-2 run to move ahead 15-10. On that run, Genevieve Bane and Miley Thunstrom both recorded a pair of kills, sending the Gaels into the media break ahead by five. That break did somewhat ice the Gaels, who would see the Lancers knot things up at 21 apiece, before refinding their footing to close the opening frame out on a 4-1 run. It was the Genevieve Bane show in set one for SMC, as the redshirt senior tallied seven kills on 12 swings and just one error, helping the Gaels to an astonishing 18 total kills in the opening frame. 

While set one was tight early, the same could not be said for set two, as the Gaels opened the second stanza with an 8-0 run on the back of an Ivona Lazovic service run, and never looked back. From that point, Cal Baptist actually stayed rather close to the Gaels, only being outscored 17-16, but the early eight point cushion was more than enough for SMC to take a commanding 2-0 lead for the second straight match. Genevieve Bane added six more kills in set two, while Ivona Lazovic provided 10 more assists and a pair of aces in the frame. After hitting at 0.351 in set one, the Gaels got even better in set two, swinging at a 0.370 clip, bringing their match percentage to 0.359 through the first two sets. 

Cal Baptist jumped ahead to an early 10-7 lead in set three, prompting a Coach Tyler Hildebrand timeout. Coming out of the timeout, any fears of a repeat of last night's reverse sweep were left in the rear view. The Gaels would pop off on a 6-1 run to retake the lead, and would not relinquish it for the remainder of the match, finishing things off with a decisive 25-17 set three victory. Genevieve Bane finished off her brilliant day with five more kills, Tessa Schouten added three in the final frame to go along with three blocks, and Alayna Pearson, who had just eight digs in the first two sets, went for five in the third, proving to be a stopper defensively against CBU. 

Genevieve Bane led the attacking barrage for the Gaels today with 18 kills, and also was strong defensively with eight digs. The 18 kills were her second most this season, and her most ever in a three set match, while her eight digs were also a season-high. If Bane had the most finger prints on this victory, then likely the second most would be from Ivona Lazovic, who had 31 assists, averaging more than 10 per set, to go along with two aces and nine digs. Serving specialist Abby Castillon joined Lazovic with two aces, bringing her tournament total to five. Defensively, it was once again the Gael titans; Alayna Pearson in the back with a team-high 13 digs, and Tessa Schouten at the net, with a team-best four blocks, leading that effort. The Gaels hit 0.300 for the second time in as many weeks, hitting 0.304 last weekend in Norman, and set a new season-high for kills per set (14.67). 

PINS LEAD THE BARRAGE
Saint Mary's tallied 13 more kills than the Lancer on nine more swings on what was a scoring barrage primarily led by their starting pin hitters. Genevieve Bane led the charge with her 18 kills on 37 swings, finishing her day with a 0.324 clip. Also contributing were Grace Vohs and Miley Thunstrom, each finishing with seven kills. Combining for just under 75% of the Gaels total kills, this terrific trio led the Gaels to what was easily one of their best offensive showings of the Fall. 

MAGNIFICENT MIDDLES
A little less than a week ago, Tessa Schouten and Kaliko Kealoha combined to go for eight kills on 16 swings without an error in a three set loss to Oklahoma. Today, the middle blocking duo somehow stepped up their game even more, and it led to a Saint Mary's sweep victory. Schouten and Kealoha combined for 10 kills on 15 swings without an error today, two more kills on one less swing compared to last week's performance in today's victory. Schouten was also extremely formidable as a blocker, with a block solo and three block assists for her second four block performance of the season. 

UP NEXT
The Gaels will finish up their trip to San Luis Obispo taking on 20th ranked Utah tomorrow at 11 AM. The Utes defeated CBU in four sets yesterday, and will play Cal Poly tonight. 

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