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COURTESY UH MEDIA RELATIONS
Hawaii AVCA sand All-Americans Brittany Tiegs, left, and Nikki Taylor, right.
Hawaii’s No. 1 duo of Brittany Tiegs and Nikki Taylor lost in the quarterfinals of Sunday’s AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball Championships pairs tournament, falling to Grand Canyon’s Shannon Dugan-Kenzie Phelps, 21-12, 21-16 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
All pairs that reach the quarterfinals earn All-America honors. Tiegs becomes just the second player in the sport’s history to be named All-America three times, doing so at Florida State in 2012 and, after sitting out a transfer year, as a junior at Hawaii last season.
It is the second honor in as many seasons for Taylor, a sophomore.
The SandBows pair, seeded sixth, opened play with a first-round victory over 11th-seeded Tyler Jackson and Anete Brinke of Long Beach State, 21-16, 15-21, 17-15. Taylor had 18 kills and Tiegs finished with a double-double (15 kills-10 digs) when hitting .536.
The quarterfinal was the third time that UH-1 played GCU-1 this season. Tiegs-Taylor topped Dugan-Phelps in the USAV Collegiate Challenge in Chula Vista, Calif., and the Lopes’ pair defeated Tiegs and Sammie Brown during a dual at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex. Taylor had 15 kills and Tiegs 10 digs in the final match of her career.
