Beach Volleyball Closes out Opening Weekend at Stanford

PHOTOS

STANFORD, Calif. — Santa Clara beach volleyball closed out a stretch of four matches in two days Sunday as part of opening weekend at Stanford Sand Volleyball Stadium. The Broncos (0-4) lost 4-1 decisions to Pacific in the morning and Cal in the afternoon in a mix of rainy and sunny conditions.

Santa Clara picked up dual victories from the No. 4 pairing of Tatiana San Juan/Michelle Gajdka in the morning and the No. 2 pairing of Kirsten Mead/Jensen Cunningham in the afternoon. San Juan and Gajdka scored their first dual victory as teammates by prevailing 21-19, 21-19 against Pacific's Janie Feldsher/Alex Holt. Mead and Cunningham rebounded from a first set defeat against Cal's Grace Campbell/Olivia Rodberg in the second match to take the second set 21-19 and the deciding set 15-11.

More than half of the day's sets (12 of 23) were decided by three points or fewer. Nikki Hess/Allison Kantor fell three times in 21-19 frames at the Broncos' top post.

Mead and Cunningham combined for the team's best weekend, going 2-2 in duals and splitting their 10 sets. The Broncos fell 4-1 to Saint Mary's and 5-0 against No. 13 Stanford in Saturday's season-opening matches.

First GAMEDAY on the sand! The Broncos battled Cal, Stanford, UOP, and St. Mary's. ?? #gobroncos #stampedetogether

A post shared by @scuvolleyball on Mar 5, 2017 at 6:05pm PST

SUNDAY RESULTS

PACIFIC 4 SANTA CLARA 1

No. 1 - Lexi Elman/AndieShelton (PAC) def. Nikki Hess/Allison Kantor (SCU); 21-15, 21-19

No. 2 - Katrin Gotterba/Maycie LaBass (PAC) def. Kirsten Mead/Jensen Cunningham (SCU); 21-15, 19-21, 15-10

No. 3 - Emily Baptista/Taylor Poncetta (PAC) def. Hailey Lindberg/Taylor Laugero (SCU); 18-21, 21-19, 17-15

No. 4 - Tatiana San Juan/Michelle Gajdka (SCU) def. Janie Feldsher/Alex Holt (PAC); 21-19, 21-19

No. 5 - Ashlyn Fleming/Skylar Wine (PAC) def. Ngozi Nwabuzoh/Erin Reineking (SCU); 21-15, 21-15

CAL 4 SANTA CLARA 1

No. 1 - Bryce Bark/Mia Merino (CAL) def. Nikki Hess/Allison Kantor (SCU); 21-19, 21-19

No. 2 - Kirsten Mead/Jensen Cunningham (SCU) def. Grace Campbell/Olivia Rodberg (CAL); 18-21, 21-19, 15-11

No. 3 - Jessica Gaffney/Camille Stepanof (CAL) def. Hailey Lindberg/Taylor Laugero (SCU); 21-10, 21-11

No. 4 - Iya Lindahl/Nicole Anderson (CAL) def. Tatiana San Juan/Michelle Gajdka (SCU); 21-18, 21-16

No. 5 - Teya Neff/Bridget Gustafson (CAL) def. Ngozi Nwabuzoh/Erin Reineking (SCU); 21-12, 21-17

UP NEXT 

The Broncos return to the sand for their home-opening match against Sacramento State Wednesday at Los Gatos High School for a 2 p.m. start.