2017 NCAA BEACH CHAMPIONSHIPS
· May 5-7, 2017
· Gulf Shores, Alabama
Saturday’s afternoon matches brought a quick sweep and a match that went down the wire as No. 1 seed and defending champ USC sewed up its spot in Sunday’s final and No. 5 seed Hawai’i stay alive with a contender’s bracket win.
Winner’s Bracket: #1 USC def. #3 Pepperdine 3-0
USC (37-1) won three of the five opening sets and held on to win each of those matches in a 3-0 win over No. 3 seed Pepperdine in the winner’s bracket to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship final. The Trojans earned the right to defend their NCAA title with wins at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4. Top pair Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes clinched the victory with a 21-18, 21-9 win. Also coming through for the Trojans were Terese Cannon/Nicolette Martin and Abril Bustamante/Joy Dennis.
1. Claes/Hughes (USC) def. Knudsen/Roh (Pepperdine) 21-18, 21-9
2. Quiggle/Howard (Pepperdine) vs. Bukovec/Wheeler (USC) 28-26, 4-10 DNF
3. Cannon/Martin (USC) vs. Caputo/Dyer (Pepperdine) 21-16, 21-14
4. Bustamante/Dennis (USC)vs. Wilson/Kraft (Pepperdine) 21-12, 22-20
5. Seiber/Lyons (Pepperdine) vs. Belton/Kremer (USC) 23-21, 11-15 DNF
Finish 3, 4, 1*
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes with the clincher! #NCAABeachVB pic.twitter.com/QddQu0X7ce
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) May 6, 2017
Contender’s Bracket: #4 Florida State vs. #5 Hawaii
It came down to the final pairing and multiple match point chances, but No. 5 Hawai’i edged out No. 4 Florida State 3-2 to advance in the contender’s bracket Saturday night. The win earns the Rainbow Wahine a spot in the Saturday’s semifinal match against No. 3 seed Pepperdine. The winner of that contest will go on to play No. 1 seed USC for the NCAA title.
The Rainbow Wahine won four of the five opening sets, but only Hawai’i’s No. 4 pair Carly Kan and Ari Homayun won in straight sets, 21-14, 22-20. UH went up 2-0 with a three-set win at No. 3. Florida State nabbed a win at No. 2 and knotted the match with a 17-15 win at No. 1 on their second match-point attempt.
The match came down to a back-and-forth battle on Court 5 that went to extra points, with both teams having several chances at the win. Florida State’s Hailey Luke and Eva Torruella had two match-point chances, only to see Hawaii tie it up. The Rainbow Wahine’s Amy Ozee and Hannah Zalopony had their own chance at 17-16, but couldn’t cash in. Another chance at 18-17 was denied by a Seminole kill. Hawaii went up 19-18 with the duel tied at 2-apiece (as the court 1 match had just ended), and Luke took a quick medical break. FSU knotted it at 19 as the crowd surrounded the court for the finale. The Seminoles denied another set point chance and a block by Luke turned the tables and put FSU ahead 21-20. Ozee tooled the block to tie it at 21, then Zalopany hit an angle shot for a kill and an ace followed to make it 23-22 Hawaii. Torruella pounded down a cross court shot to make it 23-all. Zalopany caught the back line with a kill to give UH another shot at 24-23. The next hitting attempt landed out of bounds to keep the game going. A Hawaii kill kissed the sideline to make it 25-24, but Luke stuffed the next shot to push it to 25-all. The freshman, Ozee, managed a stuff to finally give Hawaii the 27-25 win and the dual.
IT DOESN'T GET ANY CLOSER THAN THIS!!!! #NCAABeachVB pic.twitter.com/TemKF78AVB
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) May 6, 2017
1. Andrew/Kuhlman (FSU) def. Tucker/Martin (UH) 21-14, 15-21, 17-15
2. Freire/Paranagua (FSU) def. Taylor/Schucht (UH) 18-21, 21-19, 15-12
3. Maglio/Weaver (UH) def. Sanchez/Jerger (FSU) 21-16, 20-22, 15-7
4. Kan/Homayun (UH) vs. Horton/Goncalves (FSU) 21-14, 22-20
5. Ozee/Zalopany (UH) vs. Luke/Torruella (FSU) 21-17, 18-21, 27-25
Finish: 4, 3, 2, 1, 5*
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