The Saint Mary volleyball team dropped their first two matches in pool play at the KCAC Tourney on Thursday. The Spires have one match remaining in pool play today.

Saint Mary took on Kansas Wesleyan in the first match of the tourney. The Coyotes finished the regular season in first place tie with Ottawa in the KCAC Standings. The Spires would fall in straight sets to Kansas Wesleyan by scores of 25-21, 25-23, and 25-18.

Savannah Fillion led the Spires in kills with eight, Whitney Rock tallied 24 assists and 11 digs to lead the team in both categories. Maleka Benjamin, Kaitlynn Lanier, and Fillion each had two block assists in the loss as well.

The second match provided much more drama as the Spires took on Tabor. After the Blue Jays took the first two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-22, the Spires came roaring back. Saint Mary found themselves dead locked at 22-22 with Tabor in the third set but found a way to scratch out a 27-25 victory in extra rallies to force a fourth set.

In the fourth set, the Spires trailed 23-22 before scoring three straight points to survive for a fifth set. After Saint Mary got out to a 10-7 lead in the fifth set, Tabor would go on a run to lead 14-11. With the Spires one point away from the loss, they reeled off three straight points to tie the set at 14-14. However, Tabor would have the final say as they took the match 17-15 in extra rallies to seal the match.

Fillion finished with 21 kills, her highest toal of the season and the first match of the season in which she eclipsed the 20 kill mark in a match. Lanier finished with 13 kills and Angela Wade added 12. Benjamin had nine kills. Rock matched her season high in assists with 49. Wade led the Spires in digs with 22. Katy Koepke added 21 and Rock added 20 digs. Lanier and Benjamin each had three block assists.

The final match of pool play for the Spires will be tonight at 5pm in the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kan at 5pm against Sterling.