LACEY, Wash. – Saint Martin's brought home a four game win streak for their home-opener and extended it five games with a win over Pacific Lutheran University. This win ties last season for the best start in school history.
 
Head Coach Dan Behnke looks to set the bar even higher after his record-setting season in 2021. After defeating PLU (0-0) in the first two sets 28-26 and 25-21, the Lutes battled back to take set three 25-22. The Saints (5-0) won set four 25-16 and the match 3-1.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Tia Allen was the star of the night recording 12 kills and eight digs on the night. Junior Karla Soto made sure to get everyone involved with her 44 assists as Emmy Hansen (9), Jennifer Soha (8), Loredana Fouonji (8), Gracie Brenner (6) and Kylie Coon (6) all made their fair share of contributions to the kill column.
 
In the first set, the Saints got off to a slow start going down 0-3 before a service error by the PLU got the Saints on the board and kicked the offense into gear. SMU lead by as much as four in the first set but Pacific Lutheran never let the set get away from them and Saint Martin's needed a few extra points to break the stalemate and take the first set 28-26.
 
In the second set, the two teams were neck and neck up to 12-12 when a kill from Soha gave SMU the lead  and they never looked back. In the third set PLU locked in and went up 8-3 before Saint Martin's responded and tied the game up 9-9. The Saints kept it close but PLU managed to take the set in the end 25-22.
 
In the final set, SMU held the lead for almost the entire set and showed great discipline in not letting the Lutes use the last set to shift the momentum to their favor. Brenner closed out the game with an emphatic kill to seal the victory and keep the win streak alive and well at five games.
 
The Saints will be back on their home court Thursday, September 1 for their first game of the SMU tournament against Western New Mexico at 4 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.