MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Beach Volleyball concludes the 2022 regular season with six matches in the final week, beginning with their final two home games of the season on Wednesday and Thursday. SMC hosts Santa Clara on Wednesday and San Francisco on Thursday, with their Thursday tilt representing Senior Day. The Gaels will then head to Stanford to take on four teams that are in the national rankings over the weekend.
 
THE DETAILS
HOME MATCHES
Saint Mary's Gaels (13-12, 7-3) vs. Santa Clara Broncos (9-15, 3-3)
Wednesday, April 20 at 4:00 pm
 
Saint Mary's Gaels vs. San Francisco Dons (3-12, 2-4)
Thursday, April 21 at 4:00 pm
 
ROAD MATCHES
Saint Mary's Gaels vs. Washington Huskies (10-15, 2-7)
Saturday, April 23 at 9:00 am
 
Saint Mary's vs. No. 7 Grand Canyon Lopes (22-6)
Saturday, April 23 at 3:00 pm
 
Saint Mary's Gaels vs. No. 12 California Golden Bears (21-9, 1-2)
Sunday, April 24 at 11:00 am
 
Saint Mary's Gaels at No. 9 Stanford Cardinal (20-8, 7-2)
Sunday, April 24 at 5:00 pm
 
LAST TIME OUT
After a nine-day hiatus, Saint Mary's Beach Volleyball returned to action last Tuesday afternoon at Santa Clara to take on the Broncos. That was the second time this season that these teams have met, after the Gaels took down Santa Clara 3-2 during the Midseason Invitational, which was the last time Saint Mary's won a match. Santa Clara came back to take down the Gaels 3-2 on their home sand, with the Gaels winning the twos and threes before dropping the remaining three flights. The loss was the fifth-consecutive defeat for SMC.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
Saint Mary's just saw Santa Clara eight days ago, and the Broncos played two matches since, both coming at home. The Broncos defeated Pacific without dropping a pair after falling 4-1 to No. 12 Cal earlier in the day.
 
San Francisco continues to struggle through their 2022 beach season, but they have won two of their last three matches dating back to March 26. The Dons have wins over Pacific and Sacramento State during that span, but have not played since April 1.
 
Washington is on the cusp of the AVCA Top-20 polls, and just capped off a strong weekend at the Husky Invitational. The hosts of the tournament took down Portland, No. 8 Hawaii, and Oregon before falling in the championship to Hawaii. It marks the first time that Washington has had a winning record in a tournament this season.
 
Grand Canyon is once again one of the strongest teams in the country, and they've won five in a row, including three against ranked teams: No. 8 Hawaii, No. 11 Long Beach State, and No. 17 Arizona. The only defeats they have this season have come to teams ranked inside the top-6 in the AVCA polls.
 
Cal has been up-and-down in recent weeks, but that's because of the strength of the Pac-12 in beach volleyball. They just defeated Santa Clara on April 15, but have recent losses to ranked conference foes in No. 9 Stanford, No. 3 UCLA, and No. 1 USC. The Golden Bears last winning streak came from March 27-April 2 when they won four-straight matches.
 
The hosts of the weekend, Stanford, just went 3-1 at the TCU Invitational, with their lone loss coming to the hosts: TCU. The Cardinal have not had a losing record in a tournament this season, with their poorest performance coming in the Duke Kahanamoku Classic that Saint Mary's participated in (the Cardinal went 2-2).