STANFORD, Calif. – Braving the elements in the Bay, the San Francisco beach volleyball team opened its season with a pair of 3-2 victories at the Stanford Tournament on a rainy Saturday.

The Dons dispatched No. 16 Pacific 3-2 in the day's first match, winning at the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 positions in USF's first time on the sand in the 2016 campaign. The No. 4 duo of Jessica Gaffney and Kiara McKibben got USF on the board first, evening the score after dropping the match at No. 5. Then, Courtney Sabahi and Emily Reed teamed up to defeat Pacific's Katrin Gotterba and Jess Hess in the 21-19, 21-17 match. The Dons clinched the win from the No. 2 spot as Katarina Pilepic and Jurja Vlasic combined for the straight-set victory.

In the afternoon meeting with Saint Mary's, Gaffney and McKibben dominated at the No. 4 spot in the 21-10, 21-11 win over Emily Bible and Lindsey Calvin to strike first in the team scoring. After a narrow defeat at the No. 5, USF's pair of Reed and Sabahi were propelled by a 21-11 second-set win to get the momentum needed to take the third 15-13 and earn the point. USF clinched at the No. 1 position as Oluoma Okaro and Sara Staengle finished off Dalas Dodd and Lindsey Knudsen, 21-18, 21-19, as the Dons stand at 2-0 for the first time in program history.

USF is slated play two more at Stanford tomorrow, taking on Sacramento State at 11:30 a.m., and closing their tournament schedule against San Jose State at 2:30 p.m.
 

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San Francisco 3, No. 16 Pacific 2 | Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
No. 1 – Elman/Shelton (PAC) def. Okaro/Staengle (USF); 12-21, 21-16, 15-8
No. 2 – Pilepic/Vlasic (USF) def. Whitson/Wilk (PAC); 21-19, 21-15
No. 3 – Reed/Sabahi (USF) def. Gotterba/Hess (PAC); 21-19, 21-17
No. 4 – Gaffney/McKibben (USF) def. LaBass/Feiner (PAC); 21-12, 21-19
No. 5 – Diederich/Holt (PAC) def. Murtagh/Miller (USF); 21-18, 21-15
Exh. – Gutierrez/Keenan (USF) def. Cline/Fledsher (PAC); 21-11, 12-21, 15-10
 
San Francisco 3, Saint Mary's 2 | Order of finish: 4, 5, 3, 1, 2
No. 1 – Staengle/Okaro (USF) def. Dodd/Knudsen (SMC); 21-18, 21-19
No. 2 – Rund/Hernandez (SMC) def. Pilepic/Vlasic (USF); 10-21, 21-10, 15-10
No. 3 – Reed/Sabahi (USF) def. Wilkerson/Kudziela (SMC); 20-22, 21-11, 15-13
No. 4 – Gaffney/McKibben (USF) def. Bible/Calvin (SMC); 21-10, 21-11
No. 5 – O'Sullivan/Liserra (SMC) def. Murtagh/Miller (USF); 24-26, 23-21, 15-13