Santa Clara University’s beach volleyball team lost a close match to the University of Oregon on April 11 at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex in Honolulu. The final score was 4-1 in favor of Oregon, with most sets decided by three or fewer points.
The match marked the third meeting between Santa Clara and Oregon this season, but this time it took place over two thousand miles from home for the Broncos. The competition was tight throughout, with ten out of twelve sets being closely contested.
Ciara Cantlen and Alexandra Urbina secured Santa Clara’s only point by winning at the No. 4 pairs position. After dropping their first set by just two points (21-19), they came back to win the second set in extra points (22-20) and claimed victory in the deciding third set (15-12) against Hanna Bjornson and Sofia Taylor from Oregon. This marked their fifth consecutive win as a pair.
At No. 1 pairs, Avery Cukjati and Sadie Snipes won their first set against Gwen Fife and AJ Slojkowski (21-19), but ultimately lost after a close second set (25-23) and a third-set defeat (15-12). Other matches also saw narrow margins: Teagan Wilson and Sammy Wood fell at No. 2 after losing both sets by just three or two points; Mandy Hansen and Noelle Niederman went into extra points before losing at No. 3; Tyler Parouse and Ava Stoddard dropped their first set by three points before falling in straight sets at No. 5.
Santa Clara will finish its trip to Hawaii on Sunday with two more matches: one against host Hawaii at 2 p.m., followed by another contest against Oregon later that day.
