Beach Volleyball | 4/22/2016 5:29:00 PM

WCC Championship Central | WCC Championship Bracket (PDF)

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The San Francisco beach volleyball squad started off its quest for a WCC Championship in the inaugural event with three matches on the sand Friday at Ocean Beach Park.

The Dons, seeded second in the brackets, downed the No. 7 seed Portland to open up the action, and then found itself the victim of the second upset of the day registered by No. 6 Loyola Marymount in its second match of the day. USF battled back in their elimination match against No. 5 Pacific to advance to the second day of the championship.

"I am super proud of our team in this very tough bracket," remarked head coach Eyal Zimet. "We had to come back after a stinging loss and show huge heart to beat a very resilient Pacific team on our third match of the day versus only their second match. Scouting our opponent and getting ready mentally and physically for another round of grueling matches tomorrow is our top priority."

USF earned the 5-0 sweep against the Pilots with four of its five points coming in straight set victories. In the Dons' second match of the day, USF came up against an upset-minded squad from Loyola Marymount, who downed the No. 3 Santa Clara Broncos, 4-1, in its opening match. The Lions maintained their early momentum against USF, earning the 5-0 victory in the first-ever match between the two squads. USF's Nos. 3 and 4 pairs battled to stretch their matches to a third set, but couldn't manage to take the point.  

Facing elimination against Pacific in its third match of the day, USF rebounded with gusto, taking the win after earning team points in the Nos. 1 through 4 spots. Three tandems eased to the victory in straight-set fashion to secure the win. For the No. 3 couplet of Courtney Sabahi and Emily Reed, the task was tougher but the resulting point put a punctuation mark on the match.

Reed and Sabahi jumped out to early lead over Pacific's Jess Hess and Mia Feiner after winning the first set, 23-21. The Tiger tandem knotted the match by the same score in the second to force a third frame. USF's duo needed extra points yet again, but battled for the 18-16 victory to advance the squad to the second day of competition from Santa Monica.

Dons will take on No. 4 Saint Mary's in an elimination match at 10:30 a.m. Should USF earn the victory over its Bay Area rival, the Dons would move into the semifinal round on the bottom half of the bracket. USF would take on the non-advancing team between No. 1 Pepperdine and No. 6 Loyola Marymount at noon in its second match of the day.

For the Dons to earn the championship trophy in the double-elimination bracket, USF would have to win four matches on the Saturday. After the matchup with the Gaels and the elimination match against either the Waves or the Lions, the Dons would have to take down the winner between Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount twice on Saturday afternoon, with matches slated for 1:30 and 3 p.m.
 

---

No. 2 San Francisco 5, No. 7 Portland 0
No. 1 – Oluoma Okaro/Sara Staengle (USF) def. Hannah Troutman/Morgan Robinson (POR); 21-15, 20-22, 17-15
No. 2 – Jurja Vlasic/Katarina Pilepic (USF) def. Makaya Lindburg/Maddy Mandon (POR); 21-17, 21-17
No. 3 – Emily Reed/Courtney Sabahi (USF) def. Sarah Savoca/Monica Gajda (POR); 21-14, 21-16
No. 4 – Jessica Gaffney/Kiara McKibben (USF) def. Djurdjina Milovic/Lauren Naatz (POR); 21-16, 23-21
No. 5 – Jessica Keenan/Kim Gutierrez (USF) def. Katie Sullivan/Brittney Markwith (POR); 21-15, 21-18
 
 

BEACH | @USFDonsVB wins the final point at Pair 1 to claim the sweep pic.twitter.com/Q8y2hxuj32

— WestCoastConference (@WCCsports) April 22, 2016

No. 6 Loyola Marymount 5, No. 2 San Francisco 0
No. 1 – Rachelle Suaava/Avery Bush (LMU) def. Okaro/Staengle (USF); 21-19, 21-15
No. 2 – Sascha Dominique/Kekai Whitford (LMU) def. Vlasic/Pilepic (USF); 21-16, 21-14
No. 3 – Jamie Lea/Tatiana Schange (LMU) def. Reed/Sabahi (USF); 18-21, 21-18, 15-9
No. 4 – Lindsay Carr/Veronica Nederend (LMU) def. Gaffney/McKibben (USF); 21-13, 17-21, 15-13
No. 5 – Sara Kovac/Kristen Castellanos (LMU) def. Keenan/Gutierrez (USF); 21-12, 21-19
 
No. 2 San Francisco 4, No. 5 Pacific 1
No. 1 – Okaro/Staengle (USF) def. Lexi Elman/Andie Shelton (PAC); 21-13, 21-19
No. 2 – Vlasic/Pilepic (USF) def. Kimmy Whitson/Alicja Wilk (PAC); 21-14, 21-14
No. 3 – Reed/Sabahi (USF) def. Jess Hess/Mia Feiner (PAC); 23-21, 21-23, 18-16
No. 4 – Gaffney/McKibben (USF) def. Katrin Gotterba/Maycie LaBass (PAC); 21-11, 21-16
No. 5 – Jess Diederich/Alex Holt (PAC) def. Keenan/Gutierrez (USF); 21-18, 21-16