LACEY, Wash. – The Saint Martin's volleyball team (13-11, 3-11 GNAC) got all the spooks they could handle in their Halloween game on Saturday night against MSU-Billings. After going down two sets to none, falling behind 18-15 in the third, and looking dead in the water, the Saints mustered up one of the more impressive comebacks in recent history with a 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-15, 16-14) victory to send the fans home happy.
 
Set one looked like it could go either way with the Yellowjackets and Saints fighting neck and neck to take the lead. Karla Soto notched a sleek kill to square the set up at blackjacks (21 each), before MSU-B found the killer edge to nab a 25-23 set victory. Billings then captured that momentum to dart in front in the second, building a 6-2 lead, and winning the set 25-19 to hold a dangerous 2-0 lead.
 
"We just tried to remind them that they've been in these situations at practice, and we're trying to work through mistakes and not overplay certain situations," said Head Coach Dan Behnke, "We just wanted them to stay aggressive and not think about the outcome, just focus on one play at a time and that is what they started to do in that third set."
 
It was in the third set when the nightmare began for the road Yellowjackets, as the hosts pulled out a brilliant third set victory to prove their immortality on the night. Emmy Hansen had the first blow when she blasted a kill early to make it 3-1 SMU. Shortly after, Maddy Gooding and Karla Soto rejected an attack to spook the Saints into an 8-4 lead. In the late going in set three, an error from MSU-B and a kill from Britney Duvall put the Saints on the brink at 24-20. Jennifer Soha would eventually finish it off and the Saints took the set 25-23. Duvall, who had only played in one set the entire season going into tonight, was an integral implementation into the lineup in the third set by Coach Behnke, as she had eight huge kills and four blocks in the three sets she played in, which happened to be the three sets won by SMU.
 
"Brit[ney Duvall] was fantastic tonight," Coach Behnke noted, "Brit has always asked 'what can I do more?' and she is a student of the game and she is always ready when her number is called, and her number was called tonight. She stepped in a huge way. She had a huge impact on helping us make that swing of momentum in the third set."
 
It was all tricks and a lot of treats in the fourth set for Saint Martin's, as the Saints teed off on Billings with a 7-0 run to start, as Soto served. Eventually, the Yellowjackets tallied some points, but it fell far short of the pace that SMU launched to 25. After a Duvall/Gooding block, a bad set by MSU-B pushed the Saints across for a 25-15 victory and forced a winner-take-all fifth set at Marcus Pavilion.
 
In the decisive set, SMU had essentially one of the worst starts you could have, falling behind 6-1 with Coach Behnke quickly having to burn his two timeouts. A bad serve, a Tia Allen kill, and a Duvall kill scraped the Saints up to four, but not before MSU-B got to 10, meaning they needed just five points before the Saints got ten more, and Billings could take the match. The teams traded points twice, making the score 12-6, which seemed the perfect time for Saint Martin's to add some final ingredients to the cauldron and cast their final spell of the game. Kills from Soha, Hansen and Duvall, as well as a booming block from Soha and Duvall combined for a six-point run with Soto serving. That tied the game at 12 each, and after an MSU-B point, Soha answered with a big kill to square it up at lucky number 13. A bad serve then gave SMU their final test with Billings having the 14-13 serve for match point. Soha blasted a kill get the Saints to level terms once again, and after a mishit from Billings then put Saint Martin's on the precipice, it was a long and tense rally that eventually ended with a mishandled set from Billings to finally wrap up the win for SMU.
 
"I'm proud of our girls cause they just keep fighting," Coach Behnke remarked of the gutsy win, "We've been tested over the past few weeks going against some really top teams and to grind it out, when not everything is going to be pretty, but just battling through these moments when there's adversity and trusting each other, is so important. I think we saw that more so today, than in the past couple weeks. They really locked and they trust each other. I'm so proud of them, the perseverance is what I'm most proud of, they've done awesome."
 
Allen led the Saints with 15 kills, and she also had 22 digs in the contest. Hansen added 13, while Soha had 11 kills to go along with her five blocks. Soto distributed to rock to perfection in the five-setter, totaling 42 assists, while she also had two aces, as did Gooding.
 
The Saints head to the great white north next Thursday, November 3^rd, as they take on Simon Fraser University (10-13, 7-7 GNAC) in another conference matchup. That game will start at 7 PM in Burnaby.