SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The final day of the annual West Coast Challenge took place on Sunday on the beaches of Santa Cruz, and the Gaels made a splash against some of the best teams in the WCC. Saint Mary's beach volleyball scored a massive upset victory over #18 Pepperdine in their first match of the day, putting them in the championship match of the West Coast Challenge against #7 LMU, where they eventually lost. Still, SMC finished in second place in the event, out of seven teams in the conference.
 
Match 1: Saint Mary's 3, #18 Pepperdine 2
Sunday marked just the second time in program history that Saint Mary's took down Pepperdine, with the other win coming on April 17, 2021. The first two points of the match went to Pepperdine, as the Gaels won the final three decisions to snag the win away from the Waves and move onto the title match of the West Coast Challenge. It is also the first ranked win for the Gaels since that victory against Pepperdine two seasons ago.
 
Allie Cataldo and Paola Peralta won in the fours to get the first win of the day for SMC, with finals of 21-18 and 21-19. Another win ensued for the Gaels top flight of Hawley Harrer and Daniella Kensinger by the same scores of 21-18 and 21-19. At that point, all eyes turned towards the third court, where a third set was going on in the threes to determine the win.
 
Karmin Brown and Hannah Couch wrapped up the morning with a thrilling win, taking down Gracie Pedersen and former Gael Jasmin Suarez in three sets. The decisive point came when the Gaels were down 9-6 at the fourth switch. They came out of the change of sides by scoring four of the next five points to take a 13-12 lead, and they would hold on by scoring two more points to close it out with a 15-13 finish.
 
RESULTS
(5) Madie Oriskovich/Kristine Briede (PEP) def. Angie Bour/Hailee Garcia (SMC) 21-17, 21-12
(2) Kate Clermont/Savannah Standage (PEP) def. Genevieve Bane/Sadie Shipman (SMC) 21-12, 21-18
(4) Allie Cataldo/Paola Peralta (SMC) def. Gracey Campbell/Gabirella Perez (PEP) 21-18, 21-19
(1) Hawley Harrer/Daniella Kensinger (SMC) def. McKenna Thomas/Alexus McLeod (PEP) 21-18, 21-19
(3) Karmin Brown/Hannah Couch (SMC) def. Gracie Pedersen/Jasmin Suarez (PEP) 21-18, 17-21, 15-13
 
Match 2: #7 LMU 5, Saint Mary's 0
In the championship match, Saint Mary's met up with #7 LMU for the second time this weekend, but could not get past the Lions. After going three sets yesterday, the Gaels top pair of Hawley Harrer and Daniella Kensinger dropped a nail-biter in the opening set with a score of 23-21, but the second set went to the LMU top pair 21-15, which wound up being the clinching decision to give LMU the title of the West Coast Challenge.
 
Saint Mary's battled hard in the twos, nearly getting a point away from LMU thanks to the performance of Genevieve Bane and Sadie Shipman. They dropped the opening set against Alisha Stevens and Emily Anderson but came back to win the second set 21-19, setting up a decisive third set. The Gaels fell behind in that third set and could never recover, dropping it 15-8 and wrapping up a 5-0 sweep for the Lions.
 
RESULTS
(5) Isabelle Tucker/Madi Firnett (LMU) def. Angie Bour/Hailee Garcia (SMC) 22-20, 21-14
(3) Chloe Hooker/Isabelle Reffel (LMU) def. Karmin Brown/Hannah Couch (SMC) 21-13, 21-17
(1) Melanie Paul/Vilhelmiina Prihti (LMU) def. Hawley Harrer/Daniella Kensinger (SMC) 23-21, 21-15
(4) Jacinda Ramirez/Kirstine Gardner (LMU) def. Allie Cataldo/Paola Peralta (SMC) 21-11, 21-14
(2) Alisha Stevens/Emily Anderson (LMU) def. Genevieve Bane/Sadie Shipman (SMC) 21-16, 19-21, 15-8
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels will not compete again until April 5, when they head to Stanford for a pair of matches against ranked teams. SMC will see both #20 Tulane and #10 Stanford on April 5, beginning at 8:00 am. Following those midweek matches, Saint Mary's will head to Sacramento to take on Concordia and Sacramento State on April 8.