3 Of 4 Top Seeded Teams Advance In NCAA Beach Tournament

  0 Carly DeMarque | May 05th, 2017 | ASUN Conference, Beach, Big West, CCSA, College - Beach, News, Pac-12, West Coast Conference

2017 NCAA Beach Championships

The opening round of the NCAA Beach Championships has concluded, with the winners moving on in the top half of the bracket, while the loser moves to the elimination bracket to fight their way back to the top.

USC def. South Carolina 4-0

  1. Claes/Hughes (USC) def. Culbert/Smith (SC) 2-0, (21-15, 21-15)
  2. Bukovec/Wheeler (USC) vs. Denney/Williams (SC) 1-1, (21-16, 16-21, DNF)
  3. Cannon/Martin (USC) def. Tendrich/Zimmerman (SC) 2-0, (21-14, 21-18)
  4. Bustamante/Dennis (USC) def. Mannisto/Schnieder (SC) 2-0, (21-14, 21-18)
  5. Belton/Kremer (USC) def. Harrison/Vitt (SC) 2-0, (21-17, 24-22)

Order of finish: 1, 4, 3*, 5

The Trojans continue their dominant season with a 4-0 victory over South Carolina. All courts but the #2 flight finished their matches in the victory.

On the top court, Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes took down Adrianna Culbert and Katie Smith in a two set match 2-0, (21-15, 21-15). The second set was tied up at 11-11 until Claes and Hughes pulled ahead to take the match.

The #3 flight of Terese Cannon and Nicolette Martin jumped to a quick 21-14 first set over South Carolina’s Macie Tendrich and Katie Zimmerman. In the second set, Cannon and Martin rallied for a 10-4 start, only for Tendrich and Zimmerman to close the gap to make it a 21-18 set. USC’s Joy Dennis and Abril Bustamante also posted the same set scores as the #3 flight at #4.

The #5 line was more of a challenge, with USC’s Jo Kremer and Jenna Belton fighting for a 21-17 first set and an extra points second set of 24-22 to take the victory over South Carolina’s Franky Harrison and Jade Vitt. South Carolina took their only set off USC in the #2 flight but did not finish the match as the Trojans took the necessary matches to win.

Hawaii def. Florida State 3-1

  1. Tucker/Martin (UH) def. Andrew/Kuhlman (FSU) 2-0, (21-15, 21-14)
  2. Taylor/Schucht (UH) def. Freire/Paranagua (FSU) 2-1, (16-21, 21-18, 15-13)
  3. Maglio/Weaver (UH) vs. Sanchez/Jerger (FSU) 1-1, (21-23, 21-19, DNF)
  4. Kan/Homayun (UH) def. Horton/Goncalves (FSU) 2-1, (21-14, 16-21, 15-9)
  5. Luke/Torruella (FSU) def. Ozee/Zalopany (UH) 2-0, (21-14, 22-20)

Order of finish: 5, 1, 4, 2

The match was tied up at 1-1 with Hawaii taking the #1 line and Florida State taking the #5 spot. The Rainbow Wahine took the 2-1 advantage with a #4 pair win, with the #2 and #3 spots coming down to the wire in the third.

The #2 line secured the victory for Hawaii over Florida State with a Nikki Taylor kill. Taylor and Ka’iwi Schucht clinched the three-set victory with a tight 15-13 win over FSU’s Vanessa Freire and Victoria Paranagua after being down 0-1 to start the match.

Carly Kan and Ari Homayun were able to make up for their early season loss in the #4 spot over Francesca Goncalves and Katie Horton in a three-set battle. The #3 spot was coming down to the wire with Florida State ahead 17-16 in the third before play was stopped.

UCLA def. LSU 3-0

  1. M. McNamara/N. McNamara (UCLA) def. Coppola/Nuss (LSU) 2-1, (18-21, 21-11, 15-10)
  2. Tan/Yeomans (UCLA) def. Allen/Ligon (LSU) 2-1, (21-19, 17-21, 15-10)
  3. Powers/Lindelow (LSU) vs. Van Winden/Zappia (UCLA) DNF
  4. Leak/Molle (LSU) vs. Carey/Anderson (UCLA) DNF
  5. Simo/Justine (UCLA) def. Young/Davenport (LSU) 2-0, (21-18, 21-16)

Order of finish: 5, 1, 2

UCLA started their NCAA Beach Tournament with a quick 2-0 victory in the #5 spot of Savvy Simo and Lily Justine over Riley Young and Megan Davenport.

In the #1 line, LSU’s freshman tandem of Claire Coppola and Kristen Nuss started their match with a 21-18 win, but UCLA’s McNamara twins bounced back quick to dominate in the second 21-11. The deciding set went to the Bruins, who went up 2-0 over LSU.  The final point, securing UCLA’s advancement in the tournament came in the #2 flight of Kamila Tan and Madi Yeomans, who fought through three sets to secure the win for the Bruins.

Pepperdine def. Long Beach State 3-0

  1. Knudsen/Roh (Pepperdine) def. Barber/Nieto (LBSU) 2-0, (21-12, 21-18)
  2. Quiggle/Howard (Pepperdine) def. Brinke/Harward (LBSU) 2-0, (21-16, 21-14)
  3. Caputo/Dyer (Pepperdine) vs. Pekich/Karelov (LBSU) DNF
  4. Wilson/Kraft (Pepperdine) def. Wagner/Weiss (LBSU) 2-0, (21-10, 21-12)
  5. Seiber/Lyons (Pepperdine) vs. Hudson/Kruidhof (LBSU) DNF

Order of finish: 2, 4, 1

Pepperdine makes quick work of Long Beach State in the opening round of the tournament with a 3-0 victory and no games going to three sets.

There were no tough matches for the Wave today, as the #2 line of Corinne Quiggle and Brittany Howard easily took down the Beaches Anete Brinke and Hailey Harward in two. The Pepperdine #4 tandem of Anika Wilson and Deahna Kraft crushed LBSU’s Ciana Wagner and Heather Weiss.

The match clincher came from the #1 line of Delaney Knudsen and Madalyn Roh with a 21-12, 21-18 defeat over LBSU’s Nele Barber and Rachel Nieto.

Next Round Schedule

Winners bracket

  • USC vs. Hawaii at 4 PM ET
  • UCLA vs. Pepperdine at 5 PM ET

Elimination bracket

  • South Carolina vs. Florida State at 2 PM ET
  • LSU vs. Long Beach State at 3 PM ET

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About Carly DeMarque

Carly DeMarque

Carly DeMarque has been involved with competitive volleyball for the majority of her life, playing competitively at the club and collegiate level for 15 years and coaching club for five. Now a retired Division I volleyball athlete out of McNeese State University, she continues her volleyball enthusiasm by stepping back into …

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