Beach Volleyball to Play Five Matches in Three Days

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – After winning both of its matches on Saturday, the CSU Bakersfield beach volleyball team will hit the road to play two matches on Thursday and three on Saturday.

Over the weekend the Roadrunners (5-11) beat Sacramento State and Cal State LA on Saturday and nearly pulled off the weekend sweep, but were defeated by the University of New Mexico 3-2 on Friday afternoon. Emily Hansen and Sydney Haynes (6-10) were undefeated at the top spot over the three-match home stand, while Mattison DeGarmo and Emily Lopes (7-9) went 3-0 at No. 4. Sarah Garrow and Desiree Sukov (6-8) and Aleksandra Djordjevic and Briannah Mariner (3-8) were also victorious twice at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

The `Runners will clash with two familiar opponents when they head to Northridge on Thursday. CSUB will take on CSUN (13-5) at 11:00 a.m. and No. 16 Loyola Marymount University (16-11) at 1:00 p.m. The Lions have beaten CSUB twice this spring, both by 5-0 scores, while the Matadors have knocked off the `Runners 4-1 and 3-2 earlier this season.

Loyola Marymount split two matches with the University of Washington last weekend in Hawai'i. The Lions also swept two matches against the University of Utah and were shutout against the University of Hawai'i.

Last weekend, the Matadors swept Vanguard University and Concordia University Irvine.

"This week is another tough, yet exciting week for us," said head coach Cesar Benatti. "We'll play teams that we have before and every time we got better. Hopefully, we'll play even better against them.

On Saturday, CSUB will start off the day in Long Beach against Long Beach City College (14-2) at 1:45 p.m. before playing the University of Utah (0-5) at 3:30 p.m. and finishing the evening against No. 6 Long Beach State (18-4).

Long Beach City will play at El Camino Community College on Friday before Saturday's match. In their last time out, the Vikings were defeated by MiraCosta College, who CSUB beat earlier this season 4-1.

The Utes played their first matches of the season last weekend at the Hawai'i Queen's Cup. Utah lost all five matches it played and was swept by Hawai'i, Loyola Marymount and Washington.

The 49ers took last weekend off, but in their last appearance, they were shutout by No. 1 UCLA. Long Beach State has shutout the `Runners twice already this season.

"We've been practicing hard and the team seems to be having a great attitude and a winning mindset than ever," said Benatti. "We look forward to competing on the road again."

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Players Mentioned

#15 Mattison DeGarmo: 6' 3"; Junior

#14 Aleksandra Djordjevic: 6' 0"; Senior

#11 Sarah Garrow: 5' 10"; Sophomore

#13 Sydney Haynes: 6' 2"; Graduate Student

#3 Emily Lopes: 5' 7"; Senior

#50 Briannah Mariner: 5' 10"; Junior

#12 Emily Hansen: 5' 10"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#15 Mattison DeGarmo
: 6' 3"; Junior

#14 Aleksandra Djordjevic
: 6' 0"; Senior

#11 Sarah Garrow
: 5' 10"; Sophomore

#13 Sydney Haynes
: 6' 2"; Graduate Student

#3 Emily Lopes
: 5' 7"; Senior

#50 Briannah Mariner
: 5' 10"; Junior

#12 Emily Hansen
: 5' 10"; Freshman