Hawaii Scores First Upset Of 2017 NCAA Beach Tournament

2017 NCAA Beach Championships

• May 5-7, 2017
• Gulf Shores, Alabama
• Interactive Bracket
• Live Updates

In the opening round of the NCAA Beach Championships, Hawaii stunned us all with a 3-1 victory over Florida State. Earlier in the season, the Seminoles were able to take down the Rainbow Wahine in a 3-2 bout with #3-#5 spots earning the victory for FSU.

The tides changed for Hawaii as they were able to grab the #4 spot over Florida State and continued their dominance in the #1 and #2 positions.

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)

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.

Nikki Taylor with the clinching kill for @UHBeachVolley! #NCAABeachVB pic.twitter.com/vfvYFJmu7x

— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) May 5, 2017

Hawaii’s #1 line of Mikayla Tucker and Morgan Martin easily handled Florida State’s Brooke Kuhlman and Leigh Andrew in a two-set sweep. The only Rainbow Wahine loss of the day came on Court 5 with FSU’s Hailey Luke and Eva Torruella taking down Amy Ozee and Hannah Zalopany in two.

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.

Up Next:

Hawaii will take on USC at 4 PM ET while Florida State faced South Carolina in the elimination bracket at 2 PM ET.