Baseball, beach volleyball, lacrosse and more gear up for their season
By (Colina Harvey) — sports@theaggie.org
Preseason tournaments, scrimmages and exhibition games mark the start of a new spring season. While some of last season’s key players may have moved on, others are just getting ready to step up for their season. This is how the upcoming season is beginning for the UC Davis softball, baseball, beach volleyball, water polo and lacrosse teams.
For the first time in conference history, there will be a Big West Conference softball postseason tournament, giving the UC Davis softball team another opportunity to work toward and look forward to. The top six teams in the conference will compete in the tournament, which will take place in Fullerton.
Last year, the team went 12-15 in Big West play and 21-29 overall. The Big West Preseason Coaches’ Poll projected that UC Davis softball will rank eighth among the 10 teams, meaning they will have to outperform this projection in order to make it to the tournament.
While six of the UC Davis Aggies earned All-Big West Honors on the softball team last season, five of them were fourth- or fifth-year students who will not be returning. The loss of notable players will be an obstacle for the Aggies to overcome, and this young team will have to prove that they can be competitive in the Big West.
Ashley Sawai, a second-year, has demonstrated herself to be a strong performer and aims to lead the Aggies from her position on the mound. Last season, she was named Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year as well as to the All-Big West Second Team.
The Big West will also be relaunching its baseball postseason tournament, which has not taken place since 1998. Five teams will take part in the tournament, and the Aggies are striving to be one of them. However, in order to achieve this, they will need to improve from last year’s performance, where they placed seventh in regular season play.
Key pitchers Carter Delaney, a Masters of Management graduate student, and Bryan Green, a fourth-year human development major, will both be returning for their final year with the team. These two will be among those relied on to bring success to the team this season.
The baseball team will begin the season with seven straight home games, which will hopefully allow them to use their turf to build momentum. They begin Big West play on March 14 against UC Riverside.
The next spring sport kicking off is the women’s beach volleyball team, with their four home games on Feb. 22 and 23. They will be playing the University of Utah, San José State University and Santa Clara University twice. After this, they will hit the road and not play any home games for the rest of the season.
After a strong season in 2023 where the team went 20-12, their record hovered around .500 in 2024. Kylie Miller, a fourth-year managerial economics major, and Lindsay Heller, a fourth-year communications major, will be returning for their fourth and final season. Hopefully, the return of these 2024 Big West Honorable Mentions will allow the Aggies to improve on last season’s performance.
Another women’s sports team fans are able to look forward to watching during spring quarter is the women’s water polo team. Although the team struggled last season with an overall record of 10-18, they were able to finish out the season strong with two Big West wins.
They were faced with a tough first-round matchup in the postseason, playing second-seeded UC Irvine as the seventh seed. While they lost to UC Irvine, they were competitive throughout the game, ending with a score of 6-9.
The team has played in multiple tournaments already this season in which they have gone 8-6 overall. While these results are mixed, the team looks to improve in Big West play going forward.
The first team the Aggies will be taking on is UC San Diego, which ranked fourth in the Big West Preseason Coaches’ Poll while UC Davis was ranked fifth. This will be an important matchup that will allow the Aggies to show that they can compete in the Big West.
Unlike the previously mentioned spring sports teams, lacrosse is not a sport included in the Big West Conference. In the previous season, the women’s lacrosse team members of the Pacific-12 Conference faced fellow West Coast teams including the University of Oregon, San Diego State University and UC Berkeley.
Last season, they struggled in Pac-12 play. Although their record was 9-8 overall, they only won two of seven games in conference games. Despite their struggles, the Aggies nearly pulled off an upset in the first round of the Pac-12 postseason tournament. As the sixth seed, they kept close with the third seed, University of Colorado, Boulder, ending the game with a score of 13-11.
This season, they will be joining the Big 12 Conference, giving the team a new set of competitors and offering them a chance to make a name for themselves in the new conference. The Aggies will now be traveling farther for their games, with conference matchups including the University of Florida and the University of Cincinnati.
Throughout the current season in non-conference play, they have suffered a close loss to UC Berkeley and also fell to Stanford University. The team has many returning players, including Ella Brislin, a fourth-year political science and history double major, and Grace Gebhardt, a fourth-year design major, both of whom were named to the All-Conference Second Team last season.
A brand new season provides these UC Davis Aggies’ sports teams with an opportunity to prove that they are a team to watch. Tune in for the spring sports season and make sure to support the Aggies in potentially one of the most competitive spring quarters yet.
By (Colina Harvey) — sports@theaggie.org
