General 4/6/2021 7:03:00 PM

This Week in Gael Athletics | Apr. 5-11

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

As a reminder, spectators are not allowed to attend SMC home games this spring.

TUESDAY

Beach Volleyball vs. #9 Cal, 4:00 pm (Moraga, Calif.)

The Gaels are back at home after a weekend off and they will take on another ranked team from the Pac-12 in #9 Cal. Saint Mary's and Cal have a long history of competition on the sand, with 15 previous matchups under their belts. The Gaels have lost three in a row in beach play, but all three have been to top-teams in the country, and all three have been in five sets. On Thursday, the Gaels fell to #12 Stanford in five sets, with Hawley Harrer/Alexsa "Crash" Parker picking up wins as well as Elena Baka/Chandler Cowell.

THURSDAY

Beach Volleyball at WCC Midseason Invitational, 11:00 am/2:30 pm (Santa Cruz, Calif.)

The first big tournament of the beach season gets underway on Thursday with the annual WCC Midseason Invitational, set to take place in Santa Cruz. The Gaels will see a host of WCC competition over the two days, with matches on Thursday against San Francisco and Santa Clara. The Gaels already swept the Dons 5-0 to begin beach season in February, but they have not seen the Broncos since the 2020 season, right before the COVID-19 pause. Saint Mary's beat Santa Clara in that final match to record their only WCC win of the year.

FRIDAY

Beach Volleyball at WCC Midseason Invitational, 9:00 am/12:30 pm (Santa Cruz, Calif.)

Day two of the WCC Midseason Invitational takes place bright and early for Saint Mary's, as the Gaels take on Pacific at 9:00 am for their first matchup against the Tigers this year. These teams will meet again just four days later on Tuesday, April 13 in Moraga. The marquee matchup will be later in the day at 12:30 pm, when SMC takes on #6 LMU to cap off their portion of the tournament. The Lions are 14-2 on the season and actively the highest-ranked team in the WCC, just ahead of Pepperdine (#8).

Men's Tennis at Pepperdine, 1:00 pm (Malibu, Calif.)
Live Stream

Saint Mary's will play one of their tougher matches of the season this week as they travel down to SoCal to take on the Waves. Pepperdine is currently ranked No. 28 in the nation ahead of today's updated rankings announcement. The Waves are 9-5 overall and 2-0 in conference play and have yet to lose a point in WCC action. SMC was 1-1 last week with a 4-1 win against San Francisco and a close loss to Santa Clara, 4-3.

Women's Tennis vs. No. 7 Pepperdine, 2:00 pm (Moraga, Calif.)

While the men's team takes on the Waves in Malibu, the women's tennis team will host No. 7 Pepperdine at Korth Tennis Complex. The Waves are 13-2 this season with nine wins over ranked programs although their last two matches have come down to the final singles point. The Gaels went 1-1 last week against San Francisco and Santa Clara with singles player Mariia Kozyreva picking up wins in both matches. The senior is currently ranked No. 95 by the ITA and is a perfect 9-0 this year.

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

SMC will welcome the Cougars to Cottrell Field on Friday in the first game of the three-game series. It'll be the first conference series of the season for Saint Mary' who went 7-8 in league play during the 2019 campaign - the last season where WCC games were played. The Gaels will be up against a BYU team who was picked to finish first in the conference this season but are just 16-13 so far this year. The Cougars have struggled mightily on the road and are 0-8 in such games.

Baseball at Gonzaga, 6:00 pm (Spokane, Wash.)
Live Stream | Stats

Saint Mary's baseball hits the road and goes out-of-state for the first time this season as they head to Spokane for a three-game WCC series against Gonzaga. The Zags are off to a 16-11 start this year, and should be another good test for the Gaels who have come close to securing a WCC series win, but have been just short in all three tries this year. The Gaels outscored Portland last weekend 17-9, but dropped two games in the series. The lone win for Saint Mary's came on Saturday when they scored 14 runs, including a season-best ten in the sixth inning.

SATURDAY

Men's Golf at El Macero Classic, All Day (El Macero, Calif.)
Leaderboard

SMC is back in action at the El Macero Classic this week hosted by UC Davis. The three-day tournament runs Saturday through Monday and will take place at El Macero Country Club. The course is configured as a 7,110 yard par 72. The tournament will be the first of three events SMC will compete in during the month of April as they head to Utah for the Cougar Classic in two weeks before finishing the month at the WCC Championships in Henderson, Nev.

Women's Rowing at Sacramento State, 9:00 am (Sacramento, Calif.)

The Gaels will look to make it two strong weekends in a row when they take on Sacramento State on Saturday morning. Saint Mary's competed against Portland last weekend and won a pair of races, both of them coming in the Varsity Eights, where the Gaels were eight seconds faster than the Pilots. Two races against Sacramento State were scheduled for last season before the COVID-19 shutdown erased the spring portion of the schedule. This marks the lone non-WCC event the Gaels have on their spring schedule, with three total races scheduled before the WCC Championships in May.

Softball vs. BYU (DH), 12 and 2:30 pm (Moraga, Calif.)
Game 1 Stream | Game 2 Stream | Stats

Saint Mary's concludes their homestand against the Cougars on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at noon and the second contest following approximately 30 minutes after the final out. The Gaels have played their three most recent games at home and have a 5-5 record in Moraga this season. In each of the Cougars last two trips to Moraga (2017 and 2019), SMC has taken at least one game in the series.

Men's Tennis at Loyola Marymount, 1:00 pm (Los Angeles)

The Gaels conclude their LA road trip with a meeting against the Lions on Saturday. LMU is 5-6 this season but 2-0 in league play with wins against San Francisco and Santa Clara. The Lions have won the last two meetings against the Gaels but SMC did walk away from the LMU Tennis Center in 2017 with a 4-3 victory.

Women's Soccer at Portland, 1:00 pm (Portland)
Live Stream | Stats

Saint Mary's will play their penultimate game of the regular season on the road against the Pilots. Portland sits just above the Gaels in the conference standings at 2-2-3 and are 3-2-3 overall this year. UP has a stingy defense that has not allowed a goal in the past five games with the last goal being surrendered to Santa Clara back on Feb. 27. SMC is 2-3-2 in WCC play following their draw against BYU over the weekend.

Baseball at Gonzaga, 6:00 pm (Spokane, Wash.)
Live Stream | Stats

Game two of the three-game series against Gonzaga gets underway under the lights again on Saturday night, with first pitch set for 6:00 pm. The Gaels have not seen many night games yet this season, as they do not have lights at Louis Guisto Field, but come into this weekend 3-1 in night games, with their only loss coming at Cal (wins against California Baptist and Pacific). It was in game two last weekend when the Gaels had their best offensive showing since 2019: 14 runs and 12 hits, including 10 runs in the sixth inning. The Gaels sent 15 batters to the plate in that inning, and plated nine of those runs with two outs.

SUNDAY
Men's Golf at El Macero Classic, All Day (El Macero, Calif.)
Leaderboard

The second round of play continues at El Macero Country Club on Saturday morning. Saint Mary's has had a very successful spring season thus far as the team's posted top-5 finishes in three of the four most recent tourneys. The Gaels have been led by the terrific play of Blake Hathcoat who posted three consecutive top-10 finishes during that stretch. In the team's last event (Redhawk Invitational), Ethan Farnam tied for eighth to help SMC place fourth of out 15 schools.

Baseball at Gonzaga, 12:00 pm (Spokane, Wash.)
Live Stream | Stats

The final game of the road trip to the Northwest concludes on Sunday at noon as SMC takes on Gonzaga for the final time this season. As each series progresses, the Gaels have typically found more offense late in each WCC series. They picked up a win at Pepperdine in their last Sunday road game, hitting their first home run of the series, courtesy of JC Santini, on March 28. Despite getting blanked last Saturday at home, the Gaels figure to throw Ky Bush on the mound who kept SMC in the game, tying a career-best with nine strikeouts.

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

No. 23 Saint Mary's will play arguably their biggest game of the season on Sunday as they host No. 10 Loyola Marymount. The game has major implications as LMU currently sits atop the WCC standings at 4-0-2 and the Gaels are in second at 3-1-1. With a win against the Lions, SMC would need either a draw or a win in their final match of the season against Portland the following week. LMU was projected to win the WCC in the preseason coaches poll and are 5-0-2 overall with a win over UCLA in the team's only non-conference match this season. As the final regular season home match of the season, Saint Mary's will honor it's five seniors prior to kickoff.

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