SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The San Francisco sand volleyball team spent a day on the courts in the inaugural Santa Cruz Collegiate Invitational, co-hosted by USF and Santa Clara at Main Beach Saturday.
 
The six-team tournament was divided into two pools, and the Dons faced off first with CSU falling 4-1 in the 11 a.m. match.
 
In USF's second match of pool play, the Dons fell 5-0 to Hawaii, ranked #1 in the AVCA polls.
 
In the fifth-place match, the Dons tussled with Cal Poly and came through ending the strenuous full day of play with a dominating 4-1 win.
 
On Sunday, the tournament format takes on an individual flair, as the brackets are formatted for pairs play at Main Beach.
 
The USF duos of Valentina Zaloznik and Courtney Sabahi and Jessica Gaffney and Sara Staengle are seeded in the 1's and 2's bracket.
 
Zaloznik and Sabahi earned an automatic advancement to the second round of play where they will compete against the winner of the Santa Clara University's No.1 pair vs CSU Bakersfield No. 2 pair match. Gaffney and Staengle will take on California's No. 1 pair in the first round at 9 a.m.
 
In the 3's and 4's brackets, the Dons will be represented by Oluoma Okaro and Jessica Keenan as the No. 3 pair, which they will contest in second round action against either SCU or CSUB. USF's No.4 duo made up of Katarina Pilepic and Kiara McKibben will take on California's No. 3 pair in the pursuit to advance to the second round to compete against Santa Clara.
 
The 5's brackets see the tandem of Inbar Vinarsky and Anja Segota against California's No. 5 pair in pursuit to advance and take on No. 1 Hawaii.
 
Action starts at 9 a.m. and is slated to conclude with the championship matches at 2 p.m. at Main Beach.
 

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USF Results

CSU Bakersfield def. USF; 4-1
UH def. USF; 5-0
USF def. Cal Poly; 4-1