HONOLULU – Saint Mary's opened their 2019 beach season on Saturday, facing a pair of top-5 ranked teams in the nation: No. 5 Hawaii and No. 1 UCLA. The Gaels' biggest highlight of the day was freshmen Selbie Christensen and Chandler Cowell snagging a victory in the fifth position in the first match of their beach careers.
 
In the number one spot, both seniors Lindsey Knudsen and Sarah Chase looked strong, coming close to taking the first set against Hawaii (21-18) and coming within two points of defeating UCLA's top team in three sets (21-16, 19-21, 15-13). As previously mentioned, Christensen and Cowell defeated the Rainbow Wahine in the fifth spot, snagging a 13-21, 21-19, 15-11 3-set victory. Seniors Emily Bible and Lindsey Calvin also pushed the Bruins to the limit in their second match of the day. In their contest, they took the first set 21-17 before falling by six and nine points respectively in their second and third matches.
 
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"It's fun getting our feet wet on the beaches of Waikiki as we begin this season," said head coach Rob Browning. "We threw ourselves right into it against a very good Hawaii team and did OK. Chandler and Selbie were definitely the highlight. It was so great for them to pull off a victory against such a good team. It was the perfect warm up to prepare us to play the defending national champion Bruins. All of our teams stepped up and played better against UCLA. Lindsey Knudsen and Sarah Chase pushed their number one team to prepare us to play the defending national champion Bruins. All of our teams stepped up and played better against UCLA. Lindsey Knudsen and Sarah Chase went toe-to-toe with them on court one and nearly pulled off what would have been an upset. But those two are going to be a handful for any team we play this season. Emily Bible and Lindsey Calvin also stepped up their game big time against a very good UCLA team on court two. We are focused on improvement. We've been training far less than all of these teams here and we feel good about the direction we're going and we are all committed to working hard to make sure we get better every week."
 
Match No. 1
 
#5 Hawai'i 4, Saint Mary's 1
1. Emily Maglio/Hi'ilawe Huddleston (UH) def. Lindsey Knudsen/Sarah Chase (SMC) 21-18, 21-14
2. Morgan Martin/Amy Ozee (UH) def. Emily Bible/Lindsey Calvin (SMC) 21-10, 21-11
3. Ari Homayun/Julia Scoles (UH) def. Alexsa Parker/Sienna Young (SMC) 21-10, 21-12
4. Pani Napoleon/Kylin Loker (UH) def. Morgan Kendrick/Jennifer Laird (SMC) 21-9, 21-15
5. Chandler Cowell/Selbie Christensen (SMC) def. Paige Dreeuws/Sofia Russo (UH) 13-21, 21-19, 15-11
Match Notes:
Saint Mary's 0-1
Hawai'i 1-0; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,4,2,1,5)
 
Match No. 2
 
UCLA vs Saint Mary's
Feb 23, 2019 at Honolulu, HI
(Queen's Beach)
#1 UCLA 5, Saint Mary's 0
1. Lily Justine/Sarah Sponcil (UCLA) def. Sarah Chase/Lindsey Knudsen (SMC) 21-16, 19-21, 15-13
2. Abby Van Winkle/Zana Muno (UCLA) def. Emily Bible/Lindsey Calvin (SMC) 21-17, 15-21, 15-6
3. Mac May/Savy Simo (UCLA) def. Alexsa Parker/Sienna Young (SMC) 21-18, 21-12
4. Megan Muret/Izzy Carey (UCLA) def. Morgan Kendrick/Jennifer Laird (SMC) 21-9, 21-13
5. Madi Yeomans/Lindsey Sparks (UCLA) def. Chandler Cowell/Selbie Christensen (SMC) 21-9, 21-11
Match Notes:
UCLA 3-0; National ranking #1
Saint Mary's 0-2
Order of finish: Doubles (4,5,3,2,1)