The Pepperdine Beach Volleyball program swept Saint Mary’s (19-16) to reach the WCC Championship match on the last day of the West Coast Conference Championships at Ocean Park Beach on Friday.

 However, PCH Cup rival and number 9-ranked LMU would take home the title with a 3-1 win.

Also, the Waves (22-16) started the day with a 4-1 loss to the Lions which put them in the contender’s bracket. With the win the final, LMU (27-13) clinched the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

In match recaps, in the first dual, Loyola Marymount jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with a pair of victories on courts four and three, 21-14, 21-11 and 21-13, 21-11 respectively.

The Lions would then clinch the dual and move on to the WCC Championship match as they won in straight sets in slot No. 5 25-23, 21-13.

In slot number 1, LMU would increase its advantage to 4-0 with another two-set victory 21-15, 21-14

Madison Oriskovich (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Kristine Briede (Balozi, Latvia) would grind out a first set victory 21-19 on court two, but the Lions duo would force a third set after taking the second 21-19. 

Oriskovich and Briede would find their rhythm again in the final set as they won 15-12 and earned the lone point for the Waves making the final score 4-1 in favor of the Lions.

In the second dual, Pepperdine came out swinging in the elimination match against Saint Mary’s. The Waves quickly took a 2-0 lead with a pair of two-set victories as Aubrey Roberts (Walnut Creek, Calif.) and Emi Erickson (Honolulu, Hawai’i) took court five 21-13, 21-12 and Sarlota Svobodova (Brno, Czech Republic) and Gabriella Perez (Loomis, Calif) won in slot No. 3 21-12, 22-20.

Kate Clermont (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) and McKenna Thomas (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) would be the pair to clinch the dual for the Waves and put them in the WCC Championship as they took care of business on court one. They dominated the first set 21-7 before the Gaels duo forced a third set by taking the second 21-19. The Pepperdine duo would bounce back and once again find their groove by easily taking the third set 15-6.

Gracie Pedersen (Franklin, Tenn.) and Kaydon Meyers (Scottsdale, Ariz.) would take their first set 21-12 on court four before dropping the second 14-21, but the Waves pair would eventually grind out a 15-12 third set victory to increase Pepperdine’s advantage to 4-0.

Oriskovich and Briede would take their first set as well 21-9 before Saint Mary’s forced a third set. However, the Waves duo would complete the sweep after winning the third set 15-10.

The WCC Championship match was played in a two-flight format, with courts four and five playing first. The Lions would immediately take a 2-0 lead after winning court five 21-17, 21-12 and court four 21-15, 21-9.

The second flight saw intense action as all three courts went three sets. Thomas and Clermont forced a third set by taking the second 21-14, Briede and Oriskovich won court two in three sets 12-21, 21-12, 15-13 to cut the Lions lead in half, 2-1. However, LMU would win in slot No. 3 21-16, 19-21, 15-11 to win the WCC Championship.