#11 South Carolina Makes Program History in More Ways Than One (4/7)

It was a historic day for the 11th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday as the team started its weekend at the Staybridge Suites Invitational in Tallahassee with wins over #13 FIU and #14 FAU.

The wins push them to 17-5 overall this season, including 8-3  in the CCSA, and is the first time in program history that they’ve beaten two ranked opponents in the same tournament, let alone the same day.

What’s more, Macie Tendrich and Katie Zimmerman won their 30th game together as a team – making them the first pair in program history to reach that plateau. Individually, Tendrich and Jade Vitt both hit the 60-win plateau individually.

South Carolina has 6 regular season games left, plus the CCSA tournament, to match their program-record 20 wins from last season. With now two wins over FIU this season, plus wins over opponents ranked this season including Grand Canyon and Tulane, South Carolina could take a run at the NCAA tournament if they go deep in the CCSA tournament. They play Florida State and Georgia State on Saturday – a win in either of those games would be monumental for their efforts.

The TCU Horned Frogs, who sit just outside of the top 15 in the latest AVCA rankings,  also had a big day, in spite of losing one of their three matches. They too beat two ranked opponents, taking out #10 Georgia State and #13 FIU on the day before being wept away by #4 Florida State in their 3rd game of the day.

Amy Neal and Jaelyn Green extended their win streak as a pair to 9 games before eventually losing to Florida State’s Leigh Andrew and Brooke Kuhlman in the night cap.

“It’s been a great weekend so far. The whole team is playing good,” TCU beach coach Hector Gutierrez said. “We came here to get some of those wins and we did it.”

On the docket Saturday on the final day of competition, TCU battles No. 14 Florida Atlantic at 11:30 a.m. Due to a scheduling issue, the previously scheduled match with No. 11 South Carolina will not be played, Gutierrez said.

“We expect to go in and compete (Against FAU). They are a great team, and they are ranked. It’s been a long day today, and hopefully we can recover and be ready tomorrow,” Gutierrez said.

The heavy-hitters kept rolling in their games, with the nation’s top-5 teams going 6-0 on the day. USC beat #15 Arizona State and Washington, extending their winning-streak as a team to 52 collegiate duals. The team’s top-line stars Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes also extended their pair winning streak to 101 games.

USC has also struck a little magic with freshman Joy Dennis and senior Allie Wheeler. The two played together for the first time last weekend, and have quickly run their record to 6-0 already. That really solidifies the 3 line, and has also freed up Terese Cannon and Nicolette Martin to push up to the 2 line – where they’re now 6-0 as well.

Pepperdine beat #6 Hawaii and Cal Poly, while #4 Florida State swept their games against #13 FIU and, as previously mentioned, TCU.

From outside off the top 15, Sacramento State had a thrilling comeback win against Boise State, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2. That avenged a 5-0 loss to the Broncos earlier in the season.