Coming Up – Seattle Pacific (September 26, Seattle, Washington, 7:00 p.m.), Montana State Billings (September 30, Billings, Montana, 6:00 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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Saints Look To Rebound Following Alaska Road Trip – The Saints closed the score each set and nearly took their first set off of Alaska Anchorage since 2012 in the 3-0 loss on the road to No. 20 Alaska Anchorage on Thursday. The Saints took the very early 3-2 lead in the first set over the Seawolves on kills from
Kamille Langford and
Megan Vernoy. UAA responded with a 14-1 run to gain the lead and the eventual 25-7 set victory. In the second set, the Seawolves took the early advantage 8-3 before a kill from
Rebecca Mitchell and blocks from Langford and
Rachel Gondrezick cut the score to 9-6. The Saints continued to battle, with kills from Mitchell and Vernoy leading the way. SMU trailing 18-12, rattled off five straight points, highlighted by two more kills from Mitchell and a kill by Vernoy cut the score to 18-17. UAA finished the set on a 7-2 run to secure the set victory 25-19. In the final set of the match, both sides struggled to gain a serious lead until the Saints, sparked by three straight kills Mitchell, scored four straight points to take a 10-7 lead. Anchorage responded with their own 4-0 run, only for SMU to answer with a 4-1 to jump out to a 15-13 lead. After trading points until UAA led 19-18, head coach
Jon Killingbeck subbed in
Ililani Kamaka to serve. Kamaka rewarded her team with two service aces en route to a 6-0 lead to put the Saints within one point of claiming their set victory over UAA since 2012. However, UAA rallied behind an 8-1 run to close out the set and the match 28-26. Despite a match-leading 17 kills from
Rebecca Mitchell and 30 assists from
Nicolette Nesbitt, Saint Martin's fell in four sets to Alaska Fairbanks (25-12, 12-25, 25-19, 25-21) on Friday. In the first set, the Nanooks jumped out to the early 7-2 advantage before kills from
Rachel Gondrezick and Mitchell brought the Saints to within three points. Alaska Fairbanks used a 13-4 run to secure the 25-12 set one victory. The Saints responded quickly and in force with a 6-1 run, highlighted by kills from Gondrezick, and
Megan Vernoy along with a service ace by Mitchell to gain a 9-5 lead. Later in the set, SMU once again went on a 6-1 run this time fueled by blocks from
Emily Gooding,
Kamille Langford and Mitchell, along with a kill from
Ililani Kamaka. SMU closed out the 25-12 set victory with a 7-2 run, ending on a kill from Vernoy. UAF began the third set by claiming eight of the first 10 points before the Saints rattled off five straight points including two kills from Mitchell and an ace from Nesbitt. Alaska Fairbanks extended their lead to five before the Saints tied the match at 14-14 on a Langford kill. Fairbanks finished the set on a 7-2 run to put the Saints down 2-1. In the final set, Alaska Fairbanks gained the early lead, 8-3, to establish control of the set. The Nanooks stretched their lead to 14-7 before the Saints slowly chipped away at the lead; however, the deficit proved to be too much as the Saints fell 25-21.
Rebecca Mitchell and Nicolette Nesbitt Continue To Lead Saints' Attack – After tallying 15 kills against Alaska Anchorage and 17 kills versus Alaska Fairbanks,
Rebecca Mitchell has now reached the 15-kill mark in four of the last five matches. Mitchell increased her total kills to 166 and ranks fourth in the GNAC in kills per set at 3.86. Passing the ball to Mitchell is
Nicolette Nesbitt, who managed 57 assists during the two road matches. Nesbitt brought her total up to 421 assists over last week and ranks fourth in the GNAC in assists per set at 9.79.
Seattle Pacific Preview – The Falcons are also coming back from their travels to Alaska where the Falcons took the fifth set from Alaska Fairbanks before falling to Anchorage in four. The Falcons' attack is led by three hitters. Gabby Oddo (152 kills, .224 attack percentage), Olivia Turner (146 kills, .212 attack percentage) and Hannah Lautenbach (124 kills, .197 attach percentage) make up the majority of the Falcons' kills. Assisted them is Symone Tran who leads the team with 469 assists and 9.57 assists per set. Nicole Tchabanov leads the team in blocks with 41 including eight solos. The Falcons feature four players with 100 digs or more with Amanda Ganete leading the pack with 207. As a team, the Falcons struggle in the first and second set, dropping 17 of their 24 sets. However, SPU responds strongly in the third through fifth set with a record of 18-7.
Montana State Billings Preview – The Yellowjackets of Montana State Billings will face the Saints after hosting Seattle Pacific on Thursday. The Yellowjackets enter the week on a four-game losing streak after dropping matches against Western Washington and Simon Fraser on the road. Maddie Vigil leads the team in almost every offensive category including kills (144), kills per set (3.27), attack percentage (.217), and points (159). Backing her is Bayli Monck who ranks second on the team in kills (133), kills per set (2.96), attack percentage (.209) and points (150). Setter Kylee Clarke fuels the offense with a team leading 356 assists while Izela Alvarez has recorded 15 service aces. Alvarez also leads MSUB in digs with 257 while Hali Ehresmann and Monck have combined for 52 blocks. Billings has won the first set seven out of 13 times before dropping nine second sets. The Yellowjackets are 7-6 in the third set, have yet to win a fourth set (0-4) and are 1-1 in the final set.
GNAC Recap – Northwest Nazarene (12-0, 4-0 GNAC) continued their winning streak while Alaska Anchorage (9-4, 4-0) remained unbeaten in conference to stay tied atop the conference standings. Western Washington (9-3, 3-1) and Central Washington (8-4, 3-1) endured last week to stay locked at third, ahead of Seattle Pacific (7-5, 2-2) in the standings. Gridlocked behind SPU is Alaska, Concordia, Saint Martin's, Western Oregon, Montana State Billings and Simon Fraser all with a 1-3 record in GNAC action.
