SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Saint Mary's volleyball team captured the Sacramento State Invitational championship with two sweeps on Saturday. In the morning, the Gaels swept Boise State 25-17, 27-25, 25-20 and returned to the court in the evening to sweep Sac St. 27-25, 25-18, 25-23.
Lauren Corp was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while she was joined on the All-Tournament team by Gabby Jolly and Kristina Graven.
"We were very happy with today's matches," said head coach Rob Browning. "Boise State and Sac State are very good fundamentally sound teams. Both matches required a good effort, sharp focus and clean execution on our part... the girls responded to that challenge."
The Gaels were very impressive during the three matches of the tournament, not dropping a single set. As a team, SMC hit at a .361 clip, with four starters hitting over .419 for the tournament.
In the tourney, Corp finished with a combined 37 kills on .369 hitting. Jolly had 29 kills, 10 blocks and hit .469. Graven had 31 kills and 29 digs. Dalas Dodd had several long service runs as she served up nine total aces with 115 assists.
Saint Mary's improves to 4-2 overall on the season.
"All that we can ask for at this point in the season is that we continue to improve every day and every week we are seeing that," continued Browning. "I'm happy with how we are performing as a team and where we are headed."
Saint Mary's is back in action next week at the K-State Tournament on September 6-7. The Gaels take on tournament host Kansas State on Sept. 6 and Utah State on Sept 7. Both matches take place on the K-State campus.
Courtesy: Tod Fierner
