Coming Up – Western Washington (October 12, Bellingham, Washington, 7:00 p.m.), Simon Fraser (October 14, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, 7:00 p.m.).
COMPLETE MEDIA GUIDE
Live Stats/Live Video – Live Stats and Live Video of both of SMU's Volleyball Matches will be available with links found on smusaints.com. Live stats and video will be produced by the Host School.
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Ticket Information - SMU students get in free to all SMU home games with a valid student ID card and tickets are available for only five dollars. Seniors/Military/Non-SMU Students get in for three dollars. Children under the age of 11 get in free.
Saints Defeat Central Washington, Force Four Sets From Northwest Nazarene –For the first time since 2001, Central Washington and Saint Martin's went the full five sets and for the first time since 2002, Saint Martin's walked away victorious as the Saints upset the Wildcats (23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 15-9) inside Marcus Pavilion. The Saints (7-8, 2-5) rattled off seven of the first nine points in the match and opened on a 14-8 run before Central Washington (10-5, 5-2) called a timeout. After the timeout, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to claim their first lead of the set at 20-19.
Emily Gooding responded with a kill after a CWU service ace to give the Saints a 21-20 edge before the Wildcats closed out the set on a 4-1 run. SMU trailed in the second set 5-2 before a kill by
Nicolette Nesbitt sparked an 8-1 Saints run that was highlighted by three Gooding kills and back-to-back
Rachel Gondrezick kills. Each side traded points until the Saints led 14-10 when a service error by Central Washington and a kill from Gondrezick powered another Saints' run, this time a 5-1 run to give SMU a 19-11 lead. Later in the set, blocks from
Kamille Langford,
Rebecca Mitchell, and
Megan Vernoy set up a Mitchell kill to give SMU the 25-19 set victory. The Saints dug themselves into a hole early in the third set, trailing 7-2 on a SMU attack error. Central Washington capitalized on the Saints' poor hitting, a set where the Saints committed 13 attack errors, en route to a 25-19 victory. With Saint Martin's down to their final chance, the Saints answered back in force, starting the set on a 11-1 run, capped off by three kills by Mitchell and a service ace. The Wildcats slowly chipped away at the Saints' lead until the scoreboard read 16-9 SMU. However, Gooding and Langford kills ended Central Washington's attempt at a comeback and the Saints cruised to the 25-19 set victory. In the fifth and deciding set, the Saints captured the first two points on a kill from Langford and an attack error by the Wildcats. Central Washington responded with a 4-1 short run to take a 4-3 lead before the Saints rattled off five straight points to lead the set 8-4 at the switching point. After Central cut the Saints' lead to 8-6, Gooding, Mitchell and
Liz Larson responded with kills and
Courtney Misner put the Saints up by six with a service ace. After back-and-forth side outs, the Saints ended the match on a kill from Vernoy, sealing their first victory over Central Washington since 2002. Leading the Saints' offense was Mitchell once again with 19 kills while Gondrezick finished with 16 kills and Gooding with 11. Langford stepped up for the Saints' at the net with nine kills and eight blocks, including two solo blocks.
Liz Larson and
Megan Vernoy finished with a combined 14 kills.
Nicolette Nesbitt and
Jordan Keane tallied 34 and 26 assists respectively, while
Hannah Neumann lead the team with 25 digs.
With 14-kill performances from
Rebecca Mitchell and
Megan Vernoy, including Vernoy's .464 hitting percentage, the Saints forced four sets from 12th ranked Northwest Nazarene Crusaders (25-20, 21-25, 25-16, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon. In the first set, the Crusaders (16-0, 8-0) jumped out to an early 10-6 lead before the Saints (7-9, 2-6) called timeout. Later in the set, kills from
Liz Larson, Mitchell and
Jordan Keane cut the Crusaders' lead to 19-16. Mitchell recorded two more kills before NNU eventually closed out the set on a kill to take a 1-0 lead. NNU held the early 13-10 lead before an attack error started a 7-1 run for the Saints, highlighted by two kills from
Rachel Gondrezick, a Mitchell kill and service ace from Keane. Gondrezick and
Kamille Langford were credited with blocks during the run. The Crusaders stormed back to regain the lead at 19-18; however, the Saints responded once again. Mitchell tied the match with a kill and gave SMU the lead on a kill in the next point. Vernoy and
Emily Gooding registered a block to force NNU to call a timeout at 21-19. After trading points to 22-21 SMU, the Saints sealed their first set victory over NNU since 2015 with kills from Gondrezick and an ace by Gooding. The Crusaders battled back with a 10-1 run to lead-off the third set.
Rebecca Mitchell delivered five kills in the sets; however, the early deficit proved to be too much for the Saints to overcome as they fell 25-16 in the set. In the fourth and final set, the score was tied up four times at the 5-5 mark. NNU gained the lead at 12-9 before the Saints answered back to regain the lead on a Langford kill at 16-15. The Crusaders used a 7-1 run to regain momentum and closed out the match on three straight kills. Picking up her 200th kill of the season,
Rebecca Mitchell tied with
Megan Vernoy with 14 kills to lead the attack for the Saints. Gondrezick tallied nine kills and three blocks while
Kamille Langford and
Emily Gooding combined for nine blocks.
Nicolette Nesbitt (27 assists) and Keane (23) split time at the setter position.
Hannah Neumann set a new career-high in digs with 30.
Western Washington Preview – Entering the match on a six-game winning streak, the Vikings of Western Washington currently sit at 13-3 overall and 7-1 in conference. The No. 11 Vikings are led by Abby Phelps with 217 kills, 3.74 kills per set, with a .231 attacking percentage. WWU has three more hitters with 100+ kills in Joellee Buckner (170), Michaela Hall (166) and Arielle Turner (126). Passing the ball to them is Brette Boesel who leads the team with 663 assists for 11.43 assists per set. Phelps and Turner have combined for 43 service aces, more than their opponents all season (41). Aubrey Buckner, Phelps and J. Buckner lead in the team in digs with 281, 276 and 253 respectively. Joslyn Bopray and Hall have proven to be a force on the net, combining for 146 blocks and 25 solo blocks. The Vikings as a team average 14.0 kills per set, 13.0 assists per set, 19.3 digs per set and 2.6 blocks per set. WWU has taken the first set 12 out of 16 matches and have won a total of 40 sets compared to their opponents 18.
Simon Fraser Preview – Simon Fraser will host Seattle Pacific before the Saints come to town on Saturday. The Clan is 7-9 overall and 4-4 in conference after winning four of their last five matches. SFU's attack is split between three hitters in Christine Howlett (156 kills), Tessa May (152 kills) and Kirsten Pinkney (143 kills). May leads the team with an impressive .333 hitting percentage. A majority of assists for the Clan have come from Julia Tays who currently sits at 410. Jayme Bratsberg and Katie Dolguich have combined for 33 service aces. On the defense, Bratsberg and Dolguich lead the team in digs with 333 and 213 respectively. May currently has 26 more blocks than anyone else on Simon Fraser at 65 total blocks. As a team Simon Fraser is averaging 12.6 kills per set, 12.1 assists per set, 1.3 service aces per set, 18.3 digs per set and 1.9 blocks per set. Opponents have been able to gain the early advantage over SFU, winning 14 of the 16 starting sets. Opponents have won 33 sets compared to the Clan's 28 sets on the year.
GNAC Recap – Following Tuesday's night upset featuring Central Washington defeating 16-0 Northwest Nazarene, the conference is up for grabs. NNU still holds on to the top spot with an 8-1 record, followed closely by Western Washington and Central Washington at 7-1 and 7-2 respectively. Alaska Anchorage (5-3) sits in fourth, followed by Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser tied for fifth at 4-4 and Concordia at 3-5. There is a three-way tie for eighth between Saint Martin's, Western Oregon, and Montana State Billings, all at 2-6 on the year. Rounding out the standings is Alaska at 1-7.
