October 17, 2005

Saint Martin's ended a two-season, 19-match losing skid by beating University of Alaska Fairbanks, 22-30, 30-28, 31-29, 30-25 at Saint Martin’s Pavilion on Saturday.

Keana Morrisey (Jr., University Place, WA) had 19 kills in the match on her way to earning GNAC Player-of-the-Week honors. Morrisey had 35 kills – the most for any player during the week in the conference – as the Saints split a pair of matches with the Alaska schools. Morrisey also had nine digs, two blocks and one service ace accounting for 37 ½ points for the week.

After losing the first game of the match in which they never led, the Saints found themselves in charge nearly all of game two. The Nanooks came storming back taking the lead at 26-25, forcing a SMU a time out. The Saints would go on to take five of the next seven points. With the score tied at 28, Andrea Tarbet (Fr., Rochester, WA) put away back to back kills on sets from Lisa Hall (Jr., Olympia, WA) to close the game and even the match at a game apiece.

Game three saw the Nanooks twice rally from deficits of five points and fought off one game point to tie the score at 29-29. However, a UAF service error and attack error gave the Saints the game and a 2-1 match lead.

The Saints led again early in game four, but the Nanooks would not go down without a fight. The Nanooks again fought back from as many as five points down to pull even at 21-21. The Saints, however, would pull away and the Nanooks could not get closer than two points as SMU went on to a 30-25 win to close out the match.

The Saints got 13 kills and 26 digs from Kirstin Bautista (Sr., University Place, WA) and 12 kills from Andrea Tarbet. Lisa Hall contributed 44 assists and three blocks, while Randi-Lee Rezents (Sr., St. Andrews Priory, HI) also had three blocks.

On Thursday, Saint Martin’s was outscored by the University of Alaska Anchorage, 27-30, 30-28, 30-17, 30-18. The Saints, however, did earn their first game victory of the conference season and their second overall. Their other previous game win came Sept. 6 in a 3-1 loss to Chaminade University. Keana Morrisey led the Saints with 16 kills. Lisa Hall and Randi-Lee Rezents were credited with three aces apiece.

Saint Martin’s had won just one of 46 games prior to splitting eight games with the Alaska schools.

The SMU volleyball team returns to action on Thursday, Oct. 20 when the Saints travel to Bellingham to face Western Washington University in GNAC competition. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.