Cheyenne Rice (33) and Chloe Culver (Photo by John Culbertson)
By John Culbertson (@johnculb3) – Reporter
San Jose State beach volleyball swept two of its opponents this weekend at the WCC invitational in Santa Cruz.
Despite only losing its opening match of the invitational, SJSU ended the tournament with a fifth place finish and some sand between their toes.
The Spartans opened up their tournament play against the nationally ranked No. 16 Pepperdine, where they were unable to stay afloat against the crashing hits from the Waves losing the duel 4-1.
Perhaps the Spartans were distracted by the allure of the boardwalk as freshman Chloe Culver and sophomore Mia Schafer were the only Spartan duo to win its match, defeating its opponents in three sets 21-16, 19-21, 15-9
The loss against Pepperdine must have left a bad taste in their mouth because the Spartans were a different beast facing their next opponent, San Francisco.
The Spartans put on a dominating performance, sweeping the Dons 5-0. Of their five matches, only one required a third-set.
After losing to Pepperdine, the Spartans were unable to qualify for the gold bracket of the tournament, but their win against San Francisco set them up with a favorable seed in the silver bracket.
On the second day of the invitational, the Spartans kept their brooms out as they started their second day with a sweep against Pacific. Once again, only one Spartan duo required a third set to seal the deal. Junior Siena Brewster and sophomore Letizia Cammillucci came back from a one game deficit to win their match in style 22-24, 21-13, 15-7.
In its final match, SJSU faced the University of Portland to decide the winner of the silver bracket. With the breeze of the ocean on their neck, the Spartans could see the finish line and powered through, winning the match 5-1. The only duo to lose a match went down fighting, forcing a third set in order to be taken out.
SJSU ultimately won three of its four duels in the invitational, good for fifth place out of eight teams. While not the most impressive finish on paper for the Spartans, there was surely some solid experience gained during their Santa Cruz road trip.
The Spartans will look to continue building on this when they come back home to Spartan Beach and battle against Saint Mary’s March 31.