SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The final day of the annual Midseason Invitational got underway early on Saturday morning, with Saint Mary's Beach Volleyball playing two more games on the day. It began against a ranked team in Loyola Marymount and ended in a tough duel against Santa Clara, but in the end, the Gaels went 1-1 on the day after falling to LMU 5-0 and beating Santa Clara 3-2. Saint Mary's finishes up the Midseason Invitational with a mark of 13-7 and 7-2 in WCC play.
 
Match 1: #5 Loyola Marymount 5, Saint Mary's 0
 
Saint Mary's saw Loyola Marymount for the first time on Saturday morning, and they got a glimpse of why they are ranked fifth in the country. The Lions did not drop a set to the Gaels, sweeping their way through all five pairs. The Gaels broke 16 points just twice against LMU: in the twos and in the threes. Selbie Christensen and Chandler Cowell took Marine Kinna and Avery Poppinga to a 21-17 final in the first set of the twos, which wound up being their best chance to win a set. Just prior, Karmin Brown and Makenna Joyce were locked in a fierce battle with Vilhelmina Prihti and Macy Gordon in the threes. Their opening set went into extra points, and it was LMU emerging with the final two points and a 23-21 win. That spoiled the best chance SMC had of taking a set and potentially snagging a team point from the Lions.
 
RESULTS
(5) Jacinda Ramirez/Isabelle Reffel (LMU) def. Genevieve Bane/Ella Sandt (SMC) 21-9, 21-12
(4) Selina Marolf/Abbey Thorup (LMU) def. Hawley Harrer/Aeriel Sundt (SMC) 21-11, 21-13
(1) Reka Orsi Toth/Megan Rice (LMU) def. Jennifer "Boo" Laird/Jasmin Suarez (SMC) 21-10, 21-13
(3) Vilhelmina Prihti/Macy Gordon (LMU) def. Karmin Brown/Makenna Joyce (SMC) 23-21, 21-6
(2) Marine Kinna/Avery Poppinga (LMU) def. Selbie Christensen/Chandler Cowell (SMC) 21-17, 21-13
 
Match 2: Saint Mary's 3, Santa Clara 2
 
Things turned around for Saint Mary's in their final match of the weekend, where they took three out of five pairs from Santa Clara. The first and last pairs that finished were losses (ones and fives), but the Gaels were solid enough in the middle to snag their seventh WCC win of the season.
 
The combination of Brown and Joyce in the threes continued to be strong, as they earned their second win of the tournament by cruising past Santa Clara's Casey Campbell and Elena Radeff 21-8 and 21-19. Christensen and Cowell went final shortly thereafter and won 21-19 and 23-21 in a pair of sets that came down to the wire. That set up Hawley Harrer and Aeriel Sundt to secure the clinching win for Saint Mary's, and they took care of business in the fours, winning 21-14 in both sets to give the Gaels a win to close out the tournament.
 
RESULTS
(1) Michelle Shaffer/Alexia Inman (SCU) def. Jennifer "Boo" Laird/Jasmin Suarez (SMC) 21-12, 21-5
(3) Karmin Brown/Makenna Joyce (SMC) def. Casey Campbell/Elena Radeff (SCU) 21-8, 21-19
(2) Selbie Christensen/Chandler Cowell (SMC) def. Julia Sangiacomo/Sophia Tulino (SCU) 21-19, 23-21
(4) Hawley Harrer/Aeriel Sundt (SMC) def. Alexie Epstein/Claire Doud (SCU) 21-14, 21-14
(5) Jordan Bennett/Alexia Gallegos (SCU) def. Kristen Erland/Laura Studebaker (SMC) 21-17, 21-14
 
QUOTABLES
"It's so much fun to play in Santa Cruz against all of the WCC teams. We have a really good conference with some top teams. Santa Clara is a really competitive team so just to be competing out here is really cool. I love playing with Karmin. Both of us are defenders, but Karmin is my blocker and competing against really tall teams, we come in and people don't expect much but our ball control and setting has helped us so much. I'm getting set by great setter and I get to set a great hitter." – Makenna Joyce
 
"Playing Pepperdine, LMU and Santa Clara was a great challenge. We need to see different things and play really high-level teams. Our team definitely rose to the occasion. We tried new things and challenged ourselves. I feel really lucky this season to be able to play with Chandler. We know each other so well so it makes a partnership on the sand a lot easier. We figure out how to problem solve in order to be really effective together so it's a lot of fun and a great way to play our senior season." – Selbie Christensen
 
"We love playing in the West Coast conference and we love playing these great teams. The level is simply outstanding. I'm proud of our team for fighting hard and competing on every court, in every match against these strong opponents." – Rob Browning
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will spend next weekend in the Bay Area as they have a pair of doubleheaders on tap. First, Saint Mary's will head back to San Jose State on Thursday, March 21 for a match against San Jose State and #15 Long Beach State. After a few off days, SMC will head to Stanford where they have a pair of ranked matchups in front of them: #12 Cal Poly and #8 Stanford. Play on Thursday in San Jose begins at 10:00 am.