Cardinal beach volleyball suffered a 4-1 loss to the University of San Francisco on Tuesday in their first dual meet of the season, leaving the Stanford women with a 2-3 record. Despite the score, head coach Denise Corlett praised the performance of the top three teams (Hodson/Chang, Vanjak/Raquel and McKenna/Lutz) in context of “a long break after opening weekend.”
Stanford’s top-ranked pairing of freshmen Payton Chang and Hayley Hodson performed especially well. The duo won their match in consecutive sets with scores of 21-19 and 21-15. Stanford’s No. 2 pairing of Ivana Vanjak and Catherine Raquel lost their match after recovering from a defeat in the opening set to dominate the second set 21-7, losing the final set 15-11.
The No. 3 pairing of Halland McKenna and Merete Lutz narrowly lost consecutive sets, defending against three match points in the second set before conceding defeat. Follow Stanford beach volleyball as they travel to compete in a tournament against Oregon, Portland and Boise State in Portland, Oregon on Saturday and Sunday.
“It was nice to get back on the sand and compete again,” Corlett said. “We look forward to getting some wins under our belts in Oregon this weekend.”
Contact Kit Ramgopal at [email protected].