St. Mary’s Beach Sweeps Conference Rivals Santa Clara (4/4)

St. Mary’s College swept regional and conference rivals Santa Clara on Tuesday in Moraga 5-0.

It was a dominant day by the Gaels, as they outscored their opponents 210-141 on the day. That includes two 10-point set wins: one from Lindsey Knudsen/Payton Rund on the 1 line, and the other in a 21-7 rout in set 2 by Mary Hernandez/Alexis Salmons at the 3 line.

Knudsen and Rund are gelling well this year at St. Mary’s’ new top pair. Last year, Knudsen was 19-4 at the 1-line and Rund was 22-1 at the 2 line, including winning the first 22 games of the season with Mary Hernandez (before losing to Pepperdine in the WCC final). This year, with a big shakeup in St.Mary’s lineup, Knudsen and Dodd are now 16-2 this season. Their only losses have been to UCLA’s McNamara twins and USC’s Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes, two of the best pairs in the country.

Santa Clara did get some consolation, as Callie Jones/Laura Willems beat Dominique Dodd/Alex O’Sullivan 2-1 in the exhibition match.