2008 Woodie Awards
Gaels volleyball conquers Troy
Winning West Coast Conference title top priority
Frankie Mangini
Issue date: 8/29/06 Section: Sports
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The Gaels won all three of their matches, losing only one game in the process.
The first match on Friday was against host Troy University. The Gaels were ahead in each game except early in the second, defeating the Trojans handily 30-23, 30-24, 30-19. Senior Christina Kirk paced the Gaels with 11 kills.
In the second match of the day, the Gaels beat the Rattlers of Florida A&M in four games; 30-21, 30-16, 32-34, 30-20. Senior Mandy Bible had 56 assists in the match and became the school's all-time assist leader, passing former Gael record holder, Tracie Hajdukovich, who held the record with 4,305 assists in 1991. Bible currently has 4,373 assists.
The Gaels also had five players with at least 10 kills in the match with junior Missie Stidham leading the way with 18.
After Friday's performance, Coach Rob Browning said, "It was okay. It wasn't spectacular. We want to play with sustained intensity." He noted that this was the reason they lost the game in their second match.
The Gaels finished the tournament on Saturday and defeated North Florida in 3 games, 30-28, 30-22, 30-26.
Despite starting off the season with three solid results, the Gaels are not satisfied. They are looking to push themselves this season. These matches are a preparation for the West Coast Conference (WCC).
"There's only one goal-win WCC. It has never happened before in Saint Mary's history. It's harder to win WCC than to get into the tournament," said Browning.
Saint Mary's will have its hands full this year, having three ranked opponents in the WCC alone. In the WCC Coaches Poll, the Gaels were picked to finish fourth behind defending champion #6 Santa Clara, #19 Pepperdine and #20 San Diego.
But the Gaels return nine players this season, including setter Bible, outside hitter Stidham and middle blocker Kirk. All three players were named to the West Coast Conference First Team in 2005.
In addition to Bible's assist record, she is also one of the Gaels' leading blockers, averaging just under 1.2 blocks per game last year. Stidham led the conference last year in kills and was the team's leader in digs.
Kirk was the nation's second leading blocker with 1.84 per game and the WCC's leading blocker with 2.00 blocks per game.
Other notable players include senior Cassandra Kolkka and sophomore Brittany Barker. Kolkka has been a WCC Honorable Mention the past two years. Last year, Kolkka started in 27 matches for the Gaels and was third on the team in kills. Barker also garnered WCC post season accolades, earning a spot on the All-Freshmen Team.
The Gaels are preparing for conference with a tough out-of-conference schedule. They will face Nebraska, the top team in the nation, next week. They will also face #4 Stanford, Long Beach State and Sacramento State.