2008 Woodie Awards
Volleyball drops first matches in Palo Alto
Three ranked opponents too much for young Gael squad
Zack Farmer
Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: Sports
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They opened with the host #2 Stanford Cardinal and were swept 30-21, 30-28, 30-23. Saint Mary's led early in the first game 4-2 but Stanford battled back to tie the game at seven. Gael junior Taylor Groess tied the game at 10 with a kill of her own. Groess finished with eight kills and eight digs for the match.
Two overpasses by freshman Shannon Lowell and a service error by Stanford gave Saint Mary's a 16-15 lead. But Stanford came on strong late and rolled of six straight points and took a commanding 25-19 lead and did not relinquish it. The Gaels had leads in each game but were unable to hold on.
Freshman Megan York led the Gaels with 14 kills while sophomore Lauren Jaeckel recorded seven kills and two digs with a team high .263 hit percentage.
The Gaels were out hustled in the game as Stanford out dug Saint Mary's 60-44. The Cardinal also held the Gaels to a .112 team hit percentage. Stanford was led by an 18-kill performance from freshman Alix Klineman.
The volleyball team continued on to play #9 BYU and kept close but fell 32-30, 30-22, 31-29.
Early in the first game, freshman Christy Payne scored an ace to give the Gaels a 6-4 lead. BYU came back immediately, putting an 11-4 run together to give them a five-point lead. Saint Mary's was able to put their own run together and go ahead late 29-28 but once again BYU stormed back and won the match 32-30.
The Gaels were unable to find their rhythm in the second game while BYU went on a 10-3 run to take a game-high nine point lead and win the game 30-22.
In the third game, the Gaels were able to keep pace with the Cougars but unable to get over the hump. York led the Gaels with 13 kills and 14 digs on her way to her third double-double of the season. Sophomore Alita Fisher recorded 20 digs for the match.
The final match for the Gaels was against #17 Cal Poly and Saint Mary's won their first game during this match but were unable to come up with the win, falling 30-24, 28-30, 30-10, 30-26.
In the one victory on Saturday, York led the Gaels with six kills. The biggest lead for Saint Mary's was a 25-20 cushion held late in the game. In the third game, the Gaels were dominated after a number of Mustang runs gave Cal Poly a 17-2 lead. The Gaels only recorded four kills in the game.
The Gaels finished the weekend 5-3 and will make their home debut on Thursday, September 13 when they play UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. and have an encore on Friday against UC Davis at 7 p.m.