SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara beach volleyball heads to Santa Monica, California for the 2017 West Coast Conference Championship Friday and Saturday at Ocean Park Beach. The Broncos drew the sixth seed and will open up against third-seeded Loyola Marymount Friday at 9 a.m.

"The conference does a great job of putting on a nice event; it's very well-run and our student-athletes love it," head coach Jon Wallace said. "We're looking forward to competing against our WCC foes this weekend."

In a conference championship that features a double-elimination format, the winner between the Broncos and Lions takes on the winner between second-seeded Saint Mary's and seventh-seeded San Francisco at noon on Friday. The losing teams in those respective matches play in an elimination tilt at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. 

No. 3 Pepperdine is the top-seeded team in the championship. Saint Mary's, Loyola Marymount and Pacific all received votes in Monday's AVCA Coaches poll. The Waves won last year's inaugural WCC Championship by going 3-0 overall and 13-2 in sets, including a pair of sweeps to close out the competition.

THE BRONCOS

Santa Clara (1-10, 1-3 WCC) closed out the regular season with two home matches last week. The Broncos took down Bay Area and conference rival San Francisco 3-2 on Wednesday before dropping their home finale against San José State 4-1 on Thursday. 

Kirsten Mead/Jensen Cunningham make up Santa Clara's most successful pair, posting a 5-5 dual record and an 11-12 set record at the No. 2 position. In addition to back-to-back victories over the Dons and Spartans last week, the tandem won duals against Saint Mary's, Cal and No. 8 Arizona during the year.

THE LIONS (Click Here for team site)

Loyola Marymount (12-12, 0-2 WCC) enters the weekend with a 4-1 mark in its last five contests. The Lions were picked to finish in a tie for third with the Broncos in the WCC preseason poll; the teams have not met this year. LMU faced 14 nationally-ranked opponents in the regular season and went 4-10 in those matches.

Savannah Slattery/Sarah Sponcil are 13-7 in duals at the No. 1 position. Kristen Castellanos/Erin Williams have won six of their last 10 duals at No. 5. 

THE GAELS (Click Here for team site)

Saint Mary's (16-8, 8-0 WCC) went 2-4 in its last six matches, all against nationally-ranked competition. The Gaels defeated the Broncos 4-1 in the first match of the season on March 4 at Stanford and swept the season series with a 5-0 win April 4 at home. Lindsey Knudsen/Payton Rund are 20-4 in duals at the top position.

THE DONS (Click Here for team site)

San Francisco (0-15, 0-5 WCC) won only four duals in 15 matches on the year. The Broncos defeated the Dons 3-2 last Wednesday at Los Gatos High School.