November 12, 2009
Lacey, WA – Saint Martin’s came up just short falling to Western Oregon in three sets, 21-25, 21-25, 24-26, in their final home match of the season Thursday night at the Marcus Pavilion.
The Saints took a solid 11-4 lead in the first set but Western Oregon slowly chipped away, eventually tying it at 21-21. The Wolves would score the final four points of the game for the win.
Game two saw the Saints make a comeback of their own. Down 10-4, SMU evened things at 16 apiece but a kill by Irene Walters started a 5-0 WOU run that gave the Wolves back the edge.
With the score 14-14 in the third set, the two teams matched each other point for point the rest of the way. At 24 all Walters got another kill to put the Wolves on top. A ball handling error by the Saints would put the game away.
Malia Ibarra had a team high 10 kills and added 18 digs on the night. Brianna Bautista had 19 digs for the Saints while Kristin Anderson had 12 and Kristeen Juarez picked up 11. Walters led the Wolves with 13 kills and had 13 digs.
The Saints will play their final game of the season on Saturday when they travel to Ellensburg to take on Central Washington University.