SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara beach volleyball caps 2017 regular season play by hosting a pair of home matches this week at Los Gatos High School. The Broncos take on San Francisco Wednesday and San José State Thursday; first serve for both tilts is at 3 p.m.
Santa Clara is coming off a Tuesday defeat at Saint Mary's in Moraga, California. The freshman tandem of Laura Willems/Callie Jones rallied to pick up a 14-21, 21-13, 15-13 victory over Dominique Dodd/Alex O'Sullivan in an exhibition matchup with the Gaels. SCU has faced ranked opposition twice in its last four matches.
The Broncos (0-9) are lead by junior pair Kirsten Mead/Jensen Cunningham, who have posted three dual victories and seven set wins at the No. 2 spot this season. Hailey Lindberg/Taylor Laugero won their first dual as a pair 21-17, 21-16 over New Mexico's Jackie Baro/Carly Beddingfield March 31 at the Wildcat Spring Challenge.
Following the end of the regular season, the Broncos head to Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica, California for the the West Coast Conference Championship April 21-22.
THE DONS (Click here for team page)
San Francisco (0-12, 0-4 WCC) is coming off a sweep at the hands of Stanford last Friday. The Dons have won just a single dual on the season. Carly Lowry/Dane Miller took down Portland's Emma Scanlon/Morgan Robinson on March 17 at the Monterey Invitational.
Santa Clara is 3-1 all-time against San Francisco. The Broncos and Dons split a pair of matches in 2016.
THE SPARTANS (Click here for team page)
San José State (6-8) upended No. 18 Cal 3-2 last Saturday on the strength of victories at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 positions. Allison Meehan/Lyndi Scholl are 7-7 and have scored the most dual wins as a pair for the Spartans. Individually, Summer Avery has 10 dual wins in 14 matches and is 6-1 when teaming up with Kaitlynn Zdorik at the No. 5 post.
The Spartans won their first three matches of the year en route to a 5-2 start. Prior to their victory over the Golden Bears, they went 1-7 over a stretch that included four contests against ranked opponents.
Sanra Clara is 3-1 all-time against San José State. The Broncos defeated the Spartans twice in 2016.
SCORING UPDATES
Follow @SCUVolleyball on Twitter for scoring updates.
ADMISSION AND PARKING
Admission to Santa Clara beach volleyball home matches is free. Parking is also free at Los Gatos High School in the lot adjacent to the sand volleyball courts north of New York Ave. The courts are located between the football stadium and baseball field (Helm Field). Click here for a map view.
