SANTA MONICA, Calif. — It was a momentum building day one for the Gaels (18-15) on the sand courts of Ocean Beach, going 1-1 on the first day of the WCC Tournament to punch their ticket to day two. The Gaels swept the Portland Pilots (11-12) before falling 3-2 to the Pepperdine Waves (21-14), an improvement from the Waves 5-0 sweep of the Gaels in their last meeting. 

The Gaels came out firing on all cylinders in their first match with three quick victories from Paola Peralta/Chloe Swanson at the fives, Allie Cataldo/Hannah Couch at the ones and Sedona Sherman and AJ Slojkowski at the threes. Both Karmin Brown/Angie Bour at the fours and Hawley Harrer/Sadie Shipman at the twos were pushed to the brink, but battled back to take their decisive third sets to polish off Saint Mary's sixth 5-0 sweep of the season. 

Against second seeded Pepperdine, the third seeded Gaels battled valiantly. Both the duos of Brown and Bour and Harrer and Shipman continued their recent strings of dominance, moving to 7-2 and 7-1 on the season respectively, but it was too little too late, as the Gaels dropped their first three points to the Waves, ultimately falling 3-2. This match, however, provided a good scouting opportunity for the Gaels, who will likely have to get past the Waves at some point tomorrow if they'd like to find their way into the WCC Title Match. 

The Gaels will now drop down to the consolation bracket, with their match set to start at 9 AM tomorrow. They could find themselves matched up with Portland, San Francisco or Santa Clara, but the Broncos are their most likely foe. They would need to win two matches tomorrow to find themselves in the championship match at 1:30 PM. All matches will be streamed ESPN+ tomorrow, with the title match being aired on ESPNU. 

MATCH ONE: SMC 5, POR 0
(5) Paola Peralta/Chloe Swanson (SMC) def. Valerie Bruk/Jordan Bardouche (POR) 21-17, 21-9
(1) Allie Cataldo/Hannah Couch (SMC) def. Leonie Freytag/Elin Larsson (POR) 21-17, 21-14
(3) Sedona Sherman/AJ Slojkowski (SMC) def. Maui Robbins/Taylor Helle (POR) 23-21, 21-18
(4) Karmin Brown/Angie Bour (SMC) def. Kili Robins/Elena Bullemer (PRO) 14-21, 21-18, 15-13
(2) Hawley Harrer/Sadie Shipman (SMC) def. Annika Stammberger/Sophia Lee (POR) 21-14, 24-22, 15-8

MATCH TWO: PEP 3, SMC 2
(3) Sarlota Svobodova/Gabriella Perez (PEP) def. Sedona Sherman/AJ Slojkowski (SMC) 21-15, 21-15
(5) Aubrey Roberts/Emi Erickson (PEP) def. Paola Peralta/Chloe Swanson (SMC) 21-18, 21-13
(1) Kate Clermont/McKenna Thomas (PEP) def. Allie Cataldo/Hannah Couch (SMC) 28-26, 21-13
(2) Hawley Harrer/Sadie Shipman (SMC) def. Madison Oriskovich/Kristine Briede (PEP) 21-18, 8-21, 15-11
(4) KarminBrown/Angie Bour (SMC) def. Gracie Pedersen/Kaydon Meyers (PEP) 10-21, 21-11, 17-15

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