UC Davis beach volleyball defeats Sac State at the Battle of the Bay tournament

The Aggies were outperformed by UC Berkeley, Stanford and Saint Mary’s in their other matches

On Feb. 27, the UC Davis beach volleyball team took a short road trip to the Bay Area to compete in the Battle of the Bay tournament hosted by UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

The beach volleyball team played in one tournament this spring prior to the Battle of the Bay: the Canyon Classic, hosted by Grand Canyon University. They struggled at this tournament, losing to Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Texas Christian University before besting Colorado Mesa in their last game of the tournament.

Their first matchup of the weekend was against the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS/Sac State) Hornets. This was the only game of the tournament where they faced a Big West Conference opponent.

In the first match, Kirra Martin, a third-year molecular and medical microbiology major, and Kinley Lindhardt, a graduate student at the UC Davis School of Management, defeated their Sac State opponents in two sets. Although the Hornets were close behind in the first set, losing 21-19, the Aggies won the second set with a score of 21-13.

The second match to finish saw Kendal Steller, a second-year managerial economics major, and Morgan Gillinger, a second-year human development major tied up the game with a three-set loss. The Hornets edged the Aggies out in the first set, 22-20. In the second set, the Aggies fought hard, winning a close set 24-22. However, the Aggies could not win in the tiebreaking set, losing by a narrow margin.

In the third match, Emma Johnson, a fourth-year human biology major, and Alexandra Leal, a third-year environmental engineering major, beat their Hornet opponents in two sets, 21-16.

Skye Smolinski, a third-year design major, and Kate O’Steen, a fourth-year human development major, were the players to clinch the overall win for their match. The first set was tight, but the Aggies took it, and, in the second set, they crushed the Hornets and secured the win.

The last pair to finish was Kimi Waller, a fourth-year nutrition science major, and Ella Erteltova, a Master of Management graduate student. Although they lost their match to Sac State, the Aggies remained uplifted as they had already won the first game.

Their second game of the day was against the home team, the UC Berkeley Golden Bears. The Aggies struggled against the Golden Bears, losing all five matches.

Steller and Gillinger were the lone pair of Aggies to win a set against UC Berkeley, securing the first set in their match. However, they were not able to win the next two sets, allowing the Golden Bears to take the match.

On the second day of competition, the Aggies took on the Stanford University Cardinal on their home turf. The Aggies struggled against the highly ranked Cardinal and once again lost every match.

This time, Martin and Lindhardt were the only players to win a set against their opponent, though ultimately losing. They fought hard in the tiebreaking set and forced extra points before Stanford took the set 22-20.

The Aggies’ last game of the tournament was against the Saint Mary’s College Gaels. In the first match to finish, Steller and Anna Braun, a fourth-year viticulture and enology major, lost in two sets to their opponents. In the second match to finish, Martin and Lindhardt equalized, beating their opponents in two sets. However, the Gaels prevailed in the three remaining matches and won the game, but the Aggies pushed them to three sets in each match.

On March 13, the Aggies will travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif. for the Mustang Roundup, where they will play four matches, including one against Big West Opponent California State University, Northridge. Then, on March 21, they will travel to Long Beach, Calif. to compete in the Big West Challenge.

Written by: Colina Harvey — sports@theaggie.org