SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara beach volleyball begins the 2020 season by playing five duals in three days at San José State's Spartan Beach Courts. The action gets going Friday as the Broncos match up against Oregon at 9 a.m. and Ottawa (Arizona) at noon.
Saturday features an 11 a.m. tilt against UC Davis and a 2 p.m. dual against the host Spartans. The Broncos round out the competition Sunday at 10 a.m. against No. 14 Grand Canyon.
"I am really excited about this 2020 beach season and the future of our program," second-year associate head coach Jeff Alzina said. "We return some key starters from last year and added some great players with even more beach experience than last season.
"We also had a quality preseason with our beach-only players to establish our systems in advance. Our program continues to grow and improve every month. It's an exciting time to be a part of our Bronco beach team and we get to start this season with a challenging weekend close to home."
THE ROSTER
Santa Clara returns six letter winners from its 2019 squad: junior Gretchen Reinert along with sophomores Alex Anthony, Kathryn Decker, Kathryn LeBaron, Natalia Rentsch and Michelle Shaffer. Brynn Paumen joins the team as a sophomore transfer from Missouri and is one of seven newcomers. The other six are freshmen Maeve Davitt, Claire Doud, Elizabeth Held, Katie Lawton, Kamaile Manol and Julia Sangiacomo.
LeBaron, Davitt and Held are beach-only student-athletes and the remainder of the roster also competes for Santa Clara's indoor team.
Anthony led the Broncos with six match wins a year ago, including four at the second position. She played in all 17 duals, as did Reinert and Rentsch. Decker competed in all but one dual.
Sangiacomo will not be with the team for opening weekend, as she is participating in the 2020 U.S. Women's National Team Open Tryout in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
"Last year, I was hired a few days before the start of beach season," Alzina said. "This year, we got a full fall training session with our beach-only student-athletes. The indoor student-athletes had six weeks to prepare for the season as well."
MACKIE ADDED AS ASSISTANT COACH
Bre Mackie joins the coaching staff for the 2020 campaign. Mackie, hired as a member of the Bronco indoor staff prior to the 2019 season, won the 2013 AVCA Beach Volleyball National Championship as a student-athlete at Long Beach State.
"I'm really happy to have Bre joining me on the staff," Alzina said. "She was a key contributor to the national championship team at Long Beach State. She brings the experience of playing competitive years at a top program when the sport was just forming at this level; that will help us a great deal."
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