General 3/22/2021 2:53:00 PM

This Week in Gael Athletics | Mar. 22-28

Take a look at what Saint Mary's teams are up to this week...

WEDNESDAY

Track at Cal Poly Spring Break Challenge (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
Live Results

Shaking off the usual trend of competing on weekends, Saint Mary's Track will compete at the Cal Poly Spring Break Challenge on Wednesday afternoon in San Luis Obispo. This figures to be a fast meet where the Gaels will send some of their competitors. Nolan Dozier figures to be a strong contender for the Gaels, after finishing second place in his heat during the 1500m race last weekend at Fresno Pacific. This marks the first time this season the Gaels will be competing away from Fresno Pacific, where the first two meets of the year were held.

THURSDAY

Golf at The Goodwin, 8:10 am (Stanford, Calif.)
Leaderboard

Saint Mary's will compete in The Goodwin held at Stanford Golf Course from Thursday to Saturday. The action begins at 8:10 am for SMC who are one of 26 teams competing in the event. The course will be configured as a 6,727 yard par 70 and the three rounds are spread out across the three days.

Men's Tennis at Utah State, 1:00 pm (Logan, Utah)
Live Stream | Stats

Saint Mary's will play their final non-conference match of the season on Thursday against the Aggies. SMC took on another Mountain West Conference opponent in their last match in Nevada and took down the Wolfpack 4-1 to improve to 3-8 on the year. USU is 7-4 this season and 4-1 on their home courts.

FRIDAY

Golf at The Goodwin, 8:10 am (Stanford, Calif.)
Leaderboard

Saint Mary's has appeared at The Goodwin every season since 2014 with the exception of last year's event which was cancelled due to COVID-19. The other teams competing in this year's event include No. 5 Arizona State, No. 15 Pepperdine, No. 19 SMU, TCU, Nevada, Denver, Colorado, San Diego, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Washington State, California Baptist, Southern California, Long Beach State, FAU, California, Minnesota, UC Davis, Cal Poly, Santa Clara, Northwestern, Washington, Oregon, San Jose State, and UCLA.

Men's Tennis at BYU, 12:00 pm (Provo, Utah)
Live Stream | Stats

The Gaels conclude their Utah road trip with a conference matchup against the Cougars. BYU is 6-5 this year but their last three losses have all been by 4-3 scores. Saint Mary's will look to Damon Kesaris, the team's top singles player, to keep his strong play going in Provo as the senior has won three of his last four singles matches and four of last five doubles matches while teamed up with Fabian Roensdorf.

Women's Tennis vs. BYU, 2:00 pm (Moraga, Calif.)

While the men's team takes on the Cougars in Provo, Saint Mary's women's tennis will host BYU in Moraga. The Gaels are 2-4 this season although three of their losses have come against ranked opponents. The last time SMC and BYU met was back in 2019 at Korth Tennis Complex and Saint Mary's handled the Cougars with a 4-1 decision. The Gaels swept BYU in singles play during the match with Mariia Kozyreva and Liesl Pieters earning two of the team's four wins.

Baseball at Pepperdine, 3:00 pm (Malibu, Calif.)
Live Stream | Stats

Kicking off a three-game series in WCC play against Pepperdine, Saint Mary's will be on the road for the first time in conference play since 2019. The Gaels dropped two out of three to begin conference action last weekend against San Diego, but nearly had the series won. A late comeback in the ninth inning on Sunday in the rubber game of the series stalled out with the bases loaded, down by one run. Carlos Lomeli will take the hill for Saint Mary's, having allowed just four runs over his last two starts.

Volleyball vs. #15 BYU, 4:00 pm (Moraga, Calif.)
Live Stream | Stats

The final two matches of the season get underway for Saint Mary's, as they host one of the top teams in the NCAA, #15 BYU. The Cougars are always national championship-caliber, and feature a versatile team on both the attack, defense, and block. Saint Mary's has been playing well, though, as they are winners of six of their last eight matches dating back to mid-February. Part of the reason Saint Mary's has been hot is their block, which has been nearly 10 blocks per match during their last eight matches.

Softball at Santa Clara, 4:00 pm (Santa Clara, Calif.)
Live Stream | Stats

Saint Mary's will play a non-conference contest against the Broncos on Friday in Santa Clara. The Gaels are 9-13 and are coming off a five-inning 9-1 win over California Baptist in their most recent game. Santa Clara is just 3-7 this season and have dropped five of their last six games. Pitching has been SCU's greatest weakness this year as the team is averaging over seven runs allowed per game through their 10 contests.

SATURDAY

Golf at The Goodwin, 8:10 am (Stanford, Calif.)
Leaderboard

The Goodwin concludes on Saturday with the third and final round. Gaels' senior Blake Hathcoat will look to continue his hot streak after posting back-to-back top-10 finishes in the team's last two tourneys. At the Nick Watney Invitational, Hathcoat finished tied for seventh in the field and then followed up that performance by tying for 8th out of 112 competitors at the Lamkin Grips San Diego Classic.

Women's Tennis vs. San Diego, 11:00 am (Moraga, Calif.)

The Gaels conclude their weekend by hosting the Toreros on Saturday morning. San Diego was picked to finish second in the conference behind Pepperdine and are 6-3 this season. USD will take on Pacific on Friday in their WCC opener before coming to Moraga.

Baseball at Pepperdine, 1:00 pm (Malibu, Calif.)
Live Stream | Stats

The three-game series down at Pepperdine continues on Saturday afternoon with a 1:00 pm first-pitch in Malibu. The Gaels will send Sam Bower to the mound, fresh off his winning performance against San Diego on Saturday. He tossed seven innings without allowing an earned run, which dropped his ERA down to 1.05, second-best in the WCC and best among starting pitchers. It earned Bower the Bay Alarm Student-Athlete of the Week honors for the first time in his Saint Mary's career.

Men's Tennis at Stanford, 2:00 pm (Stanford, Calif.)

The Gaels will travel across the bay to face Stanford for a midweek match. SMC is coming off three matches in three days over the weekend and were narrowly defeated 4-3 in their last contest against Nevada. Stanford has only played one match this spring and beat Santa Clara 6-1.

Volleyball vs. #15 BYU, 3:00 pm (Moraga, Calif.)
Live Stream | Stats

The 2021 spring indoor season concludes on Saturday afternoon as Saint Mary's plays the Cougars once more. The Gaels have no true seniors on this year's roster, which means they will be returning a lot of experience in the Fall season. Jennifer "Boo" Laird is the most experienced player on the roster, having already been a part of Rob Browning's team for four seasons. Saint Mary's has not beaten BYU since the 2013 season.

SUNDAY

Baseball at Pepperdine, 1:00 pm (Malibu, Calif.)
Live Stream | Stats

Saint Mary's wraps up their three-game series with Pepperdine on Sunday afternoon, with a 1:00 pm first pitch. This marks the first Sunday in the month of March that Saint Mary's will not be playing at home, after hosting Cal, Pacific, and San Diego the last three Sundays. The Gaels will not have another Sunday home game until April 18 when they host Santa Clara. Ky Bush will be the Sunday starter again for Saint Mary's, looking to rebound after taking his first loss of the season on Sunday against San Diego. He did, however, pitch his final three innings in shutout fashion, while allowing just two hits and no walks.

Men's Soccer vs. San Francisco, 1:00 pm (Moraga, Calif.)
Live Stream | Stats

Saint Mary's will look to continue their conference unbeaten streak this weekend as they host San Francisco. The Gaels are 2-0-1 in league play this year and 17-0-4 across their previous 21 WCC contests. The Dons were picked to finish last in the conference but have played well this season at 4-3 and are 3-1 in WCC action. Saint Mary's has defeated USF in four of the team's last five meetings although three games have been decided by just a goal.

#GaelsRise

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