SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The third seeded Gaels (19-16) took care of business against the fourth seeded Santa Clara Broncos (13-19) in the morning match, before falling to second seeded Pepperdine (22-15) in the WCC Tournament Semifinals. The win over Santa Clara was the Gaels fourth this season over the Broncos, punching their ticket to the semis for the first time since 2021. Against Pepperdine, the Gaels battled valiantly with their backs against the wall, down 2-0 early, but despite forcing third sets in the 1, 2 and 4 pairings, would eventually fall 5-0.
After three of the first five sets to the Broncos, including the fives match, the Gaels responded with three straight wins to knock out Santa Clara, returning the favor after SCU bounced SMC from the WCC Tournament a year ago. Both Karmin Brown and Angie Bour in the fours and Allie Cataldo and Hannah Couch at the ones won in two sets, as the Gaels needed just one win from either their two or three pairing to lock up the win. Hawley Harrer and Sadie Shipman would earn that decisive win. After dropping set one 21-12, the duo went on a warpath against the Broncos taking set two 21-15 and the decisive third 15-10 to punch Saint Mary's ticket into the semis.
For the second time in the tournament, the Gaels were forced to do battle with the Waves, this time with elimination on the line. Like Santa Clara, Pepperdine put the Gaels in an early hole, working ahead 2-0 with wins at the fives and threes. Saint Mary's battled back valianty, as all three of their winners from match one, Cataldo/Couch, Brown/Bour and Harrer Shipman all forced third sets, but in the end, the Waves were able to outlast the Gaels on all three courts, earning the sweep victory to head to their ninth consecutive WCC Title match.
As the season comes to a close for the Gaels, the improvement between years one and two under Head Coach Janice Harrer were extremely noticeable. The Gaels finished three games over 0.500, with their first trip to the conference semis since 2021. Three different student-athletes, Hawley Harrer (23), Angie Bour (22) and Karmin Brown (20), reached the 20 win mark, while five others tallied at least 15. Hawley Harrer finishes out her SMC career with 64 wins on the sand, while Karmin Brown totalled 58 victories in her time.
MATCH ONE (WCC Quarterfinal): SMC 3 - SCU 2
(5) Alexie Epstein/Alexandra Urbina (SCU) def. Paola Peralta/Chloe Swanson (SMC) 21-15, 21-11
(4) Karmin Brown/Angie Bour (SMC) def. Hailey Benesz/Ella Duffner (SCU) 21-19, 21-19
(1) Allie Cataldo/Hannah Couch (SMC) def. Katie Kishton/Elena Radeff (SCU) 21-17, 21-16
(2) Hawley Harrer/Sadie Shipman (SMC) def. Noelle Niederman/Hayley Hahn (SCU) 12-21, 21-15, 15-10
(3) Jordan Bennett/Casey Campbel (SCU) def. Sedona Sherman/AJ Slojkowski (SMC) 21-17, 20-22, 15-9
MATCH TWO (WCC Semifinal): PEP 5 - SMC 0
(5) Aubrey Roberts/Emi Erickson (PEP) def. Paola Peralta/Chloe Swanson (SMC) 21-13, 21-12
(3) Sarlota Svobodova/Gabriella Perez (PEP) def. Sedona Sherman/AJ Slojkowski (SMC) 21-12, 22-20
(1) Kate Clermont/McKenna Thomas (PEP) def. Allie Cataldo/Hannah Couch (SMC) 21-7, 19-21, 15-6
(4) Gracie Pedersen/Kaydon Meyers (PEP) def. Karmin Brown/Angie Bour (SMC) 21-12, 14-21, 15-12
(2) Madison Oriskovich/Kristine Briede (PEP) def. Hawley Harrer/Sadie Shipman (SMC) 9-21, 21-18, 15-10
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