Volleyball takes third at Collegiate Beach Nationals
April 19, 2009
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The University of Texas Volleyball team had four separate teams play their way through four separate pools to make two finals matches and two semifinal matches at the fourth annual Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship, Saturday afternoon in downtown Riverside. Nine members of the Texas team competed in the one day tournament that was presented by CBS College Sports Network, the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and the AVP. The Longhorns entered pool play as the No. 2 overall seed and playing in a pool with No. 3 Hawaii, No. 6 San Diego and No. 7 North Carolina. Each school entered a pair in the A, B, C and D flights with UT sending junior opposite hitter Ashley Engle and senior middle blocker Lauren Paolini to the A-flight, senior defensive specialist Kiley Hall and junior libero Heather Kisner to the B-flight. The Longhorns also entered sophomore outside hitter Juliann Faucette and freshman outside hitter Amber Roberson in the C-flight and sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Doris and freshmen Sydney Yogi and Michelle Kocher in the D-flight. Texas' A, C and D teams all posted a 3-0 record and finished atop their pools, while the B team finished atop its pool with a 2-1 record. The Longhorns were the only team to have three pairs sweep through pool play.
After advancing through pool play Hall and Kisner defeated Hawaii's Dani Mafua and Kanani Danielson, 2-0 (15-10, 15-11) before falling to USC's Zoe Garrett and Geena Urango, 2-1 (12-15, 15-12, 15-10) in the B-flight finals. Doris, Kocher and Yogi advanced through D-flight pool play and defeated Hawaii's team of Brittany Hewitt, Jayme Lee, Sarah Prather and Catherine Fowler, 2-0 (15-12, 15-4) in the semifinals and fell to Nebraska's Brigette Root and Megan Pendergast, 2-0 (15-13, 15-10) in the finals. Engle and Paolini downed North Carolina's Stephanie Jansma and Christine Vaughen, 2-0 (15-13, 15-11) in A-flight bracket play before falling to Nebraska's Tara Mueller and Sydney Anderson, 2-1 (15-13, 20-22, 15-13) in the semifinals and claiming third place in their flight. Faucette and Roberson advanced through pool play and downed San Diego's pair of Ashton Basch and Torey Ellick, 2-1 (13-15, 15-8, 15-7) before dropping it semifinal match with USC's Kimmee Roleder, Alli Hillgren and Kati Cattaneo, 2-0 (16-14, 15-12). They bounced back with a 21-11 victory over Hawaii in the consolation match to claim third place in the C-flight. Points were awarded within each flight with the champion receiving eight points, second place seven points, and so on through eighth place (one point). The same scale was used for flights B, C and D, while double the points were awarded in Flight A for each position. Texas totaled 32 points to claim third place, while USC tallied 37 points to take first and Nebraska registered 34 points to place second. The Trojans' duo of Jessica Gysin and Alex Jupiter won the A-flight championship, knocking off Nebraska's Anderson and Mueller in the finals. Extensive television coverage of the Alt Games and beach volleyball championship kicks-off with a special one-hour program airing on CBS Sports on Saturday, May 16 at 1 p.m. Central. |
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