WCC Championship Central
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The San Francisco beach volleyball team closed its best season in program history at the inaugural WCC Championship, falling to Bay Area rival Saint Mary's, 3-2, on Saturday at Ocean Beach Park.
USF's concludes its prolific season with an overall record of 16-5 and a No. 13 national ranking in the DiG Magazine poll. The Dons gave the Gaels, eventual championship runners-up, all they could handle on the sand.
No. 3 duo of
Emily Reed and
Courtney Sabahi earned a point after defeating Alexis Salmons and Mandi Wilkerson, 21-15, 21-17.
Jessica Gaffney and
Kiara McKibben, playing in the No. 4 position, repeated its early-season matchup against Lindsey Calvin and Emily Bible after tallying the two-set sweep, 21-15, 21-17. For Gaffney and McKibben, the victory brings their overall pairs record to a team-best 19-5 on the year.
Although USF finished with the points at the Nos. 3 and 4 positions, Saint Mary's took wins at Nos. 1, 2 and 5 to turn away the Dons and advance in the brackets.
Seniors
Sara Staengle,
Jurja Vlasic,
Courtney Sabahi and
Jessica Keenan leave the USF program as four of the original members of the USF beach volleyball program, closing their collegiate careers on the sand with a team record of 33-23, and a .589 winning percentage.
Saint Mary's went on to eliminate No. 6 Loyola Marymount before falling to No. 1 Pepperdine, 5-0 in the final match of the 2016 WCC Championship as the Waves earned the title.
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No. 4 Saint Mary's 3, No. 2 San Francisco 2
No. 1 – Dalas Dodd/Lindsey Knudsen (SMC) def.
Oluoma Okaro/
Sara Staengle (USF); 21-13, 21-12
No. 2 – Mary Hernandez/Payton Rund (SMC) def.
Jurja Vlasic/
Katarina Pilepic (USF); 21-15, 21-12
No. 3 –
Emily Reed/
Courtney Sabahi (USF) def. Alexis Salmons/Mandi Wilkerson (SMC); 21-15, 21-17
No. 4 –
Jessica Gaffney/
Kiara McKibben (USF) def. Lindsey Calvin/Emily Bible (SMC); 21-16, 21-14
No. 5 – Hanna Liserra/Alex O'Sullivan (SMC) def.
Jessica Keenan/
Kim Gutierrez (USF); 22-20, 21-19
