LACEY, Wash. - Down to the final set, the Saint Martin's Saints rallied strong and ended the match on a Rebecca Mitchell kill to earn the 3-2 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills (25-19,24-26,25-22,13-25,15-13).

Trailing 8-5 in the first set, the Saints (5-3) rebounded with a 9-2 run to gain their first lead of the night at 14-10. Later in the set, a kill from Rachel Gondrezick and a service ace from Emily Gooding pushed the score to 22-16 in favor of the Saints. SMU claimed the victory on a Kamille Langford kill and Courtney Misner service ace.

The Toros (4-3) responded quickly in the second set, taking a commanding 12-4 lead. The Saints started the comeback attempt on kills from Rebecca Mitchell, Megan Vernoy and capitalized on attacking errors by Cal State Dominguez Hills to eventual take the lead 24-22. However, the Toros fought back with a kill and after an attacking error by SMU, CSUDH won the second set on a service ace.

SMU fell behind early in the third set, 9-3, only to once again regather themselves and this set, complete the comeback attempt behind an 11-3 run. After a timeout by head coach Jon Killingbeck, with the Saints trailing 22-21, SMU rattled off four straight points to win 25-22.

The Toros dominated the fourth set, 25-13, forcing a deciding set. With their backs against the wall, the Saints came out strong with three straight points, including two clutch service aces from Nicolette Nesbitt. Both sides chipped away at the score, with the Saints taking the intermission lead at 8-6. With the scoreboard reading 11-10 in favor of SMU, Langford and Mitchell connected on Nesbitt passes to put the Saints within two. Mitchell collected the Saints' 14th point on a kill and after two Toros points, Mitchell ended the match on her match-leading 17th kill.

Mitchell led the way with 17 kills, followed by Gondrezick with 15 and Vernoy at 14. Nesbitt and Gooding each earned three aces while Langford contributed six of the Saints' 11 blocks. Nesbitt wrapped up her stellar performance with 50 assists and 15 digs. 

The Saints remain at home to begin conference action with a matchup with Western Oregon on September 14. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.