By Zoë Woodward – Spear Reporter | Junior Kaia Fanshier and Senior Grace Baker playing against Saint Mary’s at Spartan Beach. Photo by Zoë Woodward.
San Jose State women’s beach volleyball (1-3, 0-0 MW) fell 3-2 against Saint Mary’s (5-1, 1-0 MW) on Friday at home.
The Spartans entered the matchup after sweeping Pacific earlier in the day, raising expectations for another strong performance.
SJSU remained competitive throughout the games but was unable to find the victory at Spartan Beach.
The afternoon started well for the Spartans, as graduate student Mia Scheepens and freshman Isabella Martinez secured the first point.
The pair were able to challenge the Gaels and take them right to the wire.
In the first set, the pair were able to come back from being 16-10 down to win 22-20. Another close set followed, but after a brilliant performance, they won 21-19.
“We put our all out there and we were super intentional with all those shots,” Scheepens said. “Overall, we looked really good.”
Saint Mary’s has a strong side and where able to take advantage of any error.
The Spartans rose to the occasion early and continued their strong start with junior Kaia Fanshier and senior Grace Baker winning the second game in the third set.
The two were able to fight back after losing the first set 21-17 by levelling the game in the second set as they won 23-21.
To the Spartans delight, they had forced a third set and found a way to win it 15-9.
“I feel like today went well,” Martinez said. “We had really good communication and whenever we had any problems we just talked about it and were able to move on to the next play.”
From this point on, SJSU did not win another game, leading to the Gaels taking control for the remainder of the matches.
Sophomore partners Sophia Torres and Sabrina Moore played a fantastic game and fought hard but came up short, losing 21-17, 23-21.
“We are growing, we are becoming,” SJSU head coach Gary Hodge said. “This team has some things to clean up and they’re doing exactly that. I have no doubts they are going to get there.”
Another close loss followed in a game that was taken to a third set.
Seniors Anna Salmon and Kylee Moore challenged everything the Gaels gave to them, but it wasn’t enough. The game ended 21-16, 21-10, 15-9.
“The issue in the three pairs that lost was execution,” Hodge said. “We were not hitting enough tough serves in. We were not executing our shots quite as well and that’s the difference.”
SJSU will be back in action against Santa Clara University at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Spartan Beach.
