USC unable to win in rematch with Waves

On a chilly, windy Saturday, the USC women’s sand volleyball team participated in the first day of USA Volleyball Beach Collegiate Challenge, held in Hermosa Beach, Calif. The team posted a 2-2 dual match record for the first day.

USC first defeated Hawai’i 4-1, then later swept Loyola Marymount 5-0. They lost matches, however, to Pepperdine and Long Beach State by 3-2.

In the afternoon’s pairs tournament, USC’s No. 3 pairs team of junior Katie Fuller and sophomore Natalie Hagglund and freshman No. 5 Kati Duddridge and graduate student Megan Thornberry both ended with 3-1 records, while the No. 4 team of senior Kendall Bateman and freshman Eve Ettinger were 2-2.

As for USC’s No. 1 team, graduate student Geena Urango and sophomore Sara Shaw ended the day with a 1-3 record, with two of their losses coming in three sets.

In standout volleyball play, however, USC’s No. 2 pairs team of sophomore Kirby Burnham and graduate student Kelly Irvin won all four of their matches, defeating Hawai’i, Loyola Marymout, Pepperdine and Long Beach State’s pairs teams.

Burnham and Irvin were one of four pairs that won all four of their matches. Long Beach State’s Cailtin Ledoux and Tara Roenicke and Pepperdine’s pairs teams of Kelley Larsen and Stevi Robinson and Victoria Adelhelm and Kellie Woolever were the other teams to play through the pairs tournament undefeated.

Pepperdine did not lose a single match and ended the day at 4-0 and Long Beach State went 3-1. Hawai’i went 1-3 while Loyola Marymount did not see a single win and lost all four of its matches.

The team will now focus on reaching the American Volleyball Coaches Association Collegiate Sand Volleyball Championships, to be held in Gulf Shores, Ala., the last weekend of April.