By Nick Romeo — Reporter
San Jose State (4-1) women’s beach volleyball narrowly missed a perfect weekend going 4-1 to start the season in their home opener.
The season opener was also the first set of matches ever played on the new south campus beach volleyball court.
“It feels amazing,” senior Caitlin Bettenay said. “We’re so blessed to have these courts. It has allowed us to prepare a lot better compared to last season.”
The Spartans took down Ottawa University of Arizona (5-1) for their first win by the score of 3-2. Kaitlynn Zdroik and Bettenay won both matches, and the pair Tabea Schwarz and Thaliana Grajeda swept their opponent as well to lead the way for the Spartans.
Ryann Thomison and Summer Vercruyssen had a tough match that resulted in three close matches, but came out with a victory.
Taking on Oregon (1-2), the same three pairs managed the same fate to come out on top for the Spartans.
Zdroik and Bettenay endured two tough calls against Oregon to come up victorious in what was a resilient performance. Despite losing the first match, they won decisively 21-11 and 15-6 to take the win.
Schwarz and Grajeda took care of business as well, prevailing in both matches once again for SJSU.
Picking up their third straight win, the Spartans defeated UC Davis (1-2) 3-2 on the strength of strong performances from Zdroik and Bettenay to the way for SJSU. They won both matches 21-19 and 21-17 to continue their dominance.
Zdroik and Bettenay picked up their first loss of the weekend against Santa Clara (0-5), but luckily the rest of the team picked up the slack.
Schwarz and Grajeda, Haylee Nelson and Sarah Smevog, Thomison and Vercruyssen, Kiley Lingenfelter and Taumafa Tuinauvai all won to help the Spartans to a 4-1 victory.SJSU lost the only match of the weekend in their final matchup against Grand Canyon University (4-0) 5-0. Unlike the first four games of the weekend, GCU dominated from start to finish as all the pairs were swept in their matches.
The Spartans next game is at home against Sacramento State on Thursday at 3 p.m.
Follow Nick on Twitter @nromeo12