BVB | Gaels Head South to Battle of the Bay, Co-Hosted by San Jose State and Stanford

Friday, February 27

San Jose, CA

12:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

Pacific

Annah Legaspi (19) went 3-1 in her debut weekend as a Gael, paired with Alisia Silverthorn

BVB | Gaels Head South to Battle of the Bay, Co-Hosted by San Jose State and Stanford

2/26/2026 12:00:00 PM | Women's Beach Volleyball

MORAGA, Calif. — After a 3-1 start to its 2026campaign at the Third Coast Challenge, the Saint Mary's beach volleyball team will be back in the Bay this weekend, playing in the Battle of the Bay, co-hosted by San Jose State and Stanford. The Gaels will see four NorCal foes in the event, the host Spartans and Cardinal, as well as Pacific and UC Davis.

Saint Mary's kicked off its season in Houston with wins against Southern Miss, Houston Christian and Tarleton State, and a lone loss coming at the hands of third-ranked Cal Poly. The third flight of Hannah Couch and Isla Johnson, and the fourth flight of Alisia Silverthorn and Annah Legaspi both went 3-1 on the weekend. So too did the Gaels' fifth flight, which was split between the duo of Hannah Glick and Clarissa Klein, and Glick and Barett Nolan.

Things get started on Friday at Spartan Beach as the Gaels get their first look at WCC competition with a noon tilt against the Pacific Tigers. The Tigers are off to an 0-2 start against WCC foes San Francisco and Santa Clara. Jaida Ward is in her second season at the helm, and is looking to improve after just a 1-22 campaign last year. Francesca Zanotti and Jayhlin Swain own the lone point scored by the Tigers this year, winning the fourth flight against USF last week. The Gaels are 23-3 all-time vs Pacific, and ride a 20-game win streak against the Tigers.

The Gaels will follow that up immediately with a 2 p.m. contest against San Jose State. The Spartans also fell to Santa Clara and USF on opening weekend. Gary Hodge is in his fourth season as head coach of the Spartans, after spending the prior four seasons leading the Gaels, and is coming off of his Spartan program record 15 wins a year ago. The sophomore duo of Sabrina Moore and Sophia Torres in the fifth flight set the tone for the Spartans early with a dominant showing against the Dons last week. The Gaels are 14-4 all-time against San Jose State, and beat the Spartans twice a season ago.

Saint Mary's will trek north from San Jose to Palo Alto for day two of the event, first taking on the Aggies of UC Davis at the Stanford Beach Volleyball Stadium at noon on February 28. The Aggies went 1-3 to open the season at the Canyon Classic in Phoenix, defeating Colorado Mesa and falling to No. 11 Arizona State, Arizona and No. 5 TCU. First year head coach Ari Hamoyun made it north to Davis from Northridge, where she earned the title of all-time winningest coach for CSUN. She will rely heavily on her veteran top flight of Ella Erteltova and Kimi Waller to lead the team in her first year in charge of the Aggies. The Gaels are 4-3 in seven all-time meetings with the Aggies, and won their last two meetings against their foes from the East.

Rounding out the weekend of contests, the Gaels will take on the top-ranked team in the country, the Stanford Cardinal at 2 p.m. 10th year head coach Andrew Fuller is working on five straight NCAA Championship appearances, and looks on his way to a sixth after going 5-1 at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic. The Cardinal's lone loss came in a narrow 3-2 decision at the hands of fourth-ranked USC, while they logged wins against 16th-ranked Hawaii, ninth-ranked Cal, seventh-ranked LMU, sixth-ranked Texas and, at the time, top-ranked UCLA. Avery Jackson and Brooke Rockwell have been the model of consistency at the twos, going 4-2 on opening weekend, with all four wins coming in straight sets. The Gaels are just 8-17 all-time against Stanford, and have not beaten them since 2019.

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