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Matthew Aguirre

Beach Volleyball

`Runners Head to Big West Challenge

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The CSU Bakersfield beach volleyball team will travel to Folsom, Calif. on Friday and Saturday to take on all five conference opponents at the Big West Challenge, hosted by Sacramento State.

On Friday, the Roadrunners (3-5) will face a trio of opponents, beginning with No. 3 University of Hawai'I at 9:00 a.m. The Rainbow Wahine are 18-3 on the season and are currently riding a 13-match winning streak. Their No. 3 pair of Morgan Martin and Lea Monkouse have been named the Big West Pair Team of the Week twice this season and the top pair of Emily Maglio and Kai'iwi Schucht were the most recent winners of the award.

CSUB will then take on Sacramento State (0-8) and CSUN (9-1) at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., respectively. The Hornets have yet to earn a victory this season and their pairs teams have been victorious just five times in eight matches. The `Runners knocked off the Sacramento State 3-2 last season at the Big West Conference Tournament. CSUB will looking to exact some revenge on the Matadors, who won an earlier match this season, 4-1. Mattison DeGarmo and Emily Lopes won in straight sets against CSUN (21-19, 21-19) at the No. 3 position. The Matadors are off to their best start in program history.

On Saturday, CSUB will square off with two more Top 10 teams in No. 5 Long Beach State and No. 6 Cal Poly. The 49ers' (13-1) only loss came to No. 1 Pepperdine University and Lnog Beach shutout the `Runners back on March 4. The Mustangs (15-2) will also represent a tough challenge for CSUB as they have won 12 in a row, including a 5-0 victory over CSUN last weekend at the Barnes Beach Volleyball Complex at the Student Rec Center.

"This weekend should be the most important and toughest one of the season so far," said CSUB head coach Cesar Benatti. "We will play five great matches against all our conference rivals, and we couldn't be more excited. The games will give us an idea of what we will encounter at the Big West Tournament. We have been improving for the last few weeks, growing in practice and we can't wait to put all that in action tomorrow and Saturday."

Degarmo and Lopes remain the `Runners most successful pairing. The duo has an even 4-4 record this spring with three of the victories coming at the No. 3 position. Hannah Manzanares and Sidney Wicks are also .500 at 2-2, while they have won a match at both the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. The duos of Emily Hansen and Sydney Haynes and Sarah Garrow and Desiree Sukhov also have two victories.

The `Runners open the day at 12:00 p.m. against Long Beach State and finish the weekend at 3:00 p.m. against Cal Poly.
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Players Mentioned

Mattison DeGarmo

#15 Mattison DeGarmo

6' 3"
Junior
Sarah Garrow

#11 Sarah Garrow

5' 10"
Sophomore
Sydney Haynes

#13 Sydney Haynes

6' 2"
Graduate Student
Emily Lopes

#3 Emily Lopes

5' 7"
Senior
Hannah Manzanares

#1 Hannah Manzanares

5' 7"
Junior
Sidney Wicks

#10 Sidney Wicks

5' 8"
Redshirt Sophomore
Desiree Sukhov

#44 Desiree Sukhov

6' 0"
Freshman
Emily Hansen

#12 Emily Hansen

5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Mattison DeGarmo

#15 Mattison DeGarmo

6' 3"
Junior
Sarah Garrow

#11 Sarah Garrow

5' 10"
Sophomore
Sydney Haynes

#13 Sydney Haynes

6' 2"
Graduate Student
Emily Lopes

#3 Emily Lopes

5' 7"
Senior
Hannah Manzanares

#1 Hannah Manzanares

5' 7"
Junior
Sidney Wicks

#10 Sidney Wicks

5' 8"
Redshirt Sophomore
Desiree Sukhov

#44 Desiree Sukhov

6' 0"
Freshman
Emily Hansen

#12 Emily Hansen

5' 10"
Freshman
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