October 5, 2005

SEATTLE — The Saints were knocked off by Seattle University 14-30, 14-30, 22-30 at the Connolly Center on Saturday night. The Redhawks (9-8, 7-0 GNAC) continued to lead the Great Northwest Athletic Conference as its lone undefeated team in conference play by winning their eighth straight. Seattle is a full game ahead of second-place Central Washington, who also won on Saturday.

Despite the lopsided final scores in each game, the Saints played tough early in all three games. SMU was tied with the Redhawks 6-6 in the first game before Seattle went on a 15-3 run thanks to some solid serving from the Redhawks.

Seattle’s defense put together a high quality performance. The Redhawks held the Saints (0-13, 0-7 GNAC) to a minus .040 hitting percentage, surrendering just 20 kills, while forcing 24 errors. With that percentage, Seattle will continue to lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage in conference matches. The Redhawks entered the match allowing opponents to just .080 and that dropped to .066 after Saturday.

Andrea Tarbet (Fr., Rochester, WA) led the Saints with six kills and Keana Morrisey (Jr., University Place, WA) was right behind her with five kills. Kirstin Bautista (Sr., University Place, WA) led all players defensively with 11 digs.

The Saints are on the road again as they travel to Seattle Pacific University on Thursday and to Nampa, ID to face Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m.