They came to Gulf Shores, Ala., hoping to win a title as a team. Now it’s up to Hawaii’s top two pairs to try to win one for the team.
The fourth-seeded Rainbow Wahine lost to third-seeded Florida State 4-1 in Saturday’s semifinals of the AVCA Collegiate Sand Team Championship. But Hawaii is still alive in Sunday’s pairs championship, with its top two pairs, Brittany Tiegs-Karissa Cook and Katie Spieler-Nikki Taylor, qualifying. The SandBows tandems are scheduled to see Long Beach State tandems on the other side of the net with the first whistle at 3 a.m. Hawaii time.
Tiegs-Cook, seeded third in the 16-team event, take on the 14th-seeded pair of Delainey Aigner-Sweeney and Bojana Todorovic, who were the top seeds in the Best of The Rest portion but had to fight their way back into the bracket with a play-in win. Spieler-Taylor, seeded 12th, take on fifth-seeded Tyler Jackson and Janisa Johnson, who won their pool to advance to Sunday’s competition.
"We know them well," Hawaii coach Scott Wong said of the 49ers. "I feel we’re in a good position. Both our pairs could win it (all).They have a shot."
The matches are rematches of sorts from two earlier dual competitions between Hawaii and Long Beach State. On March 7 at Queen’s Beach, Tiegs-Cook beat Aigner-Sweeney and Todorovic 22-20, 20-22, 15-11, while Spieler-Taylor held on for a 22-20, 21-19 win over Jackson-Johnson.
On April 18 at Huntington Beach, Calif., the 49ers flopped their top two pairs. Tiegs-Cook prevailed at No. 1 over Jackson-Johnson 22-20, 21-11, but Spieler-Taylor lost to Aigner-Sweeney and Todorovic 21-18, 18-21, 15-11.
"I think of the two matches, Nikki and Katie have the tougher one," Wong said. "They (Jackson-Johnson) run a very fast offense. The other pair is more traditional — Aigner-Sweeney more of a blocker, Todorovic the defender. Both of their teams are experienced. We’ll have to play well."
That was something that Hawaii did not do against Florida State. The Seminoles, playing in their third consecutive national semifinal, finally broke through against the SandBows.
Hawaii’s only win in the semifinal came at No. 5, where Karlee Riggs-Mikayla Tucker rallied past Sierra Sanchez-Hailey Luke 14-21, 22-20, 16-14. Three other matches also went three, with Tiegs-Cook losing at No. 1, Spieler-Taylor at No. 2 and London Chow-Olivia Urban at No. 4.
"We were in every match, except for No. 3," Wong said of the 21-14, 21-15 loss by Ali Longo-Ginger Long. "I don’t know if the travel finally caught up with us, but we had chances in all of them.
"I know we can beat that team on another day. But today they were the better team."
The Seminoles later fell to No. 2 Pepperdine 3-2 in the title match. It was the second title in three years for the Waves, who lost last year’s championship 3-2 on an injury forfeit to Long Beach State.
The odd format was double-elimination on Friday and single-elimination Saturday. Pepperdine and Hawaii went 2-0 Friday, while Florida State came out of the losers bracket after going 2-1 Friday; USC, which had a first-round bye, also came out of the losers bracket after going 1-1 Friday and lost to Pepperdine 3-2 in Saturday’s second semifinal.
As disappointed as Wong was about Saturday, he said the future is bright for the program. Hawaii loses just two seniors in Cook and Longo, and returns 12 experienced players, with several highly touted recruits coming in.
"We’re a growing program," he said. "Every year you want to win a championship, you want to end the season with a win. That’s the competitor in me and the competitor in all the girls we recruit.
"It’s hard to look back right now on all the great things we did this season. It’s the first time in this situation and all in all, I’m proud of all we accomplished. Today was not a great day for the SandBows, but it was a great season overall."
