LACEY, Wash. - What marked the final time for four Saints' seniors inside Marcus Pavilion, No. 8 Western Washington defeated the Saints in straight sets (25-10, 25-17, 28-26).
Western Washington (23-3, 17-1) and Saint Martin's (9-17, 4-14) began the match with a slight WWU edge at 5-4. Kills from Rachel Gondrezick and senior Nicolette Nesbitt started the Saints' off. However, the Vikings used an 8-1 run to jump out to a 16-8 edge. The Saints offense struggled to find gaps in the Vikings defense with the set ending 25-10 in favor of Western Washington.
The Saints responded well in the early goings of the second set, taking a 5-3 lead with kills from Gondrezick, senior
Rebecca Mitchell and Kamille Langford. Western Washington tied the match at 6-6 and proceeded to score six unanswered points to take a 12-6 lead. With the Saints trailing 20-10, Liz Larson started the run with a kill, followed by three straight kills by Mitchell. The Vikings closed out the 25-17 set with a kill and a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
Saint Martin's continued their momentum into the final set; despite falling behind 6-2 in the early goings. The Saints cut the Vikings' lead to one before Western Washington extended to a 21-18 lead. A service ace by Clarice Buchanan and a kill by Gondrezick helped equalize the set at 21-21. Kills by Larson and Mitchell gave the Saints a 24-23, only one kill away from taking a set off the number eight team in the country. However, despite three set serves, the Saints were unable to close out the set and the Vikings sealed the 28-26 victory.
Rebecca Mitchell led all Saints with 18 kills along with 13 digs and a service ace. Gondrezick connected for 11 kills while Megan Vernoy provided four kills and a block.
Nicolette Nesbitt finished the match with 29 assists and 14 digs along with
Hannah Neumann's 14 digs.Â
Saint Martin's wraps up the 2017 season with two road matches next week, starting with Concordia on Thursday, Nov 16 at 7:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available with links on smusaints.com.
