Staying in the moment will be a key to the University of Hawaii beach volleyball team’s hopes of sticking around in the NCAA tournament bracket.
The fifth-seeded SandBows weathered windy conditions to split their first two matches in the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala., on Friday and open today’s play with an elimination match against No. 7 LSU.
UH (27-6) began the double-elimination tournament by knocking off No. 4 Florida State 3-1, then lost to No. 1 USC 3-0 to set up today’s meeting with LSU in the contenders bracket.
“When you’re in an elimination situation more than anything the mind-set is, ‘What do you have to lose?’ ” UH coach Jeff Hall said in a phone interview. “Let’s not play conservative here, let’s not protect anything. Let’s leave it all on the beach and go for it. Let’s play to win and that’s absolutely what we want so we can get ourselves to Sunday.”
The first meeting between the UH and LSU beach programs is set for at 9:10 a.m. Hawaii time, with the winner facing the survivor of today’s opening match between Florida State and UCLA.
“I played against (LSU coach Russell Brock) in college. He’s done a good job in a couple years building that program into a national powerhouse,” Hall said.
“The beach volleyball community is pretty small, so you end up playing a lot of the same teams. So I think it will be nice to play somebody else.”
USC and No. 3 Pepperdine went 2-0 on Friday and meet in a semifinal match at 10 a.m.
In Friday’s opening round, UH pulled out two three-set victories to avenge a loss this season to Florida State.
After FSU claimed the first point on Court 5, UH’s No. 1 flight of Mikayla Tucker and Morgan Martin tied the dual with a 21-15, 21-14 sweep of FSU’s Leigh Andrew and Brooke Kuhlman.
UH’s Carly Kan and Ari Homayun went to a third set on Court 4 and extended their winning streak to a program-record 14 with a 21-14, 16-21, 15-9 win over Katie Horton and Francesca Goncalves.
On Court 2, Nikki Taylor and Kaiwi Schucht also went to a third set against Vanessa Freire and Victoria Paranagua and Taylor’s kill capped a 21-16, 18-21, 15-13 win to clinch the dual.
“We were super patient,” Hall said. “I’m really proud … that we’re just remaining in the play that we’re in and not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves. We haven’t dwelled on any of the past plays. It’s exactly what you’re trying to look for in mind-set when you’re making a championship run.”
In the winner’s bracket match, USC’s Terese Cannon and Nicolette Martin posted the first point with a 21-19, 21-13 sweep of UH’s Laurel Weaver and Emily Maglio.
Kan and Homayun fought off a couple of match points to take a 23-22 lead in the second set. But consecutive hitting errors helped USC’s Abril Bustamante and Joy Dennis pull out a 21-18, 25-23 victory.
USC’s No. 1 flight of Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes closed the dual with a 21-17, 22-20 win over Tucker and Martin. The other two matches were headed to a third set when the Trojans clinched.
“The dual score won’t give it justice to how close it actually was,” Hall said. “We had a swing to win the second set against arguably the best college team in the country (Claes-Hughes). Morgan and Mikayla were playing really well.
“USC was better than us today, for sure. But I think we’re not far off and I’d sure love another opportunity in this tournament to play them.”
National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship
At Gulf Shores, Ala.
Friday
>> Match 1: No. 1 USC def. No. 2 South Carolina, 3-0
>> Match 2: No. 5 Hawaii def. No. 4 Florida State, 3-1
>> Match 3: No. 2 UCLA def. No. 7 LSU, 3-0
>> Match 4: No. 3 Pepperdine def. No. 6 Long Beach State, 3-0
>> Match 5: Florida State def. South Carolina, 3-0 (South Carolina eliminated)
>> Match 6: LSU def. Long Beach State, 3-2 (LBSU eliminated)
>> Match 7: USC def. Hawaii, 3-0
>> Match 8: Pepperdine def. UCLA, 3-1
Saturday
>> Match 9: Florida State vs. UCLA, 8 a.m.
>> Match 10: LSU vs. Hawaii, 9:10 a.m.
>> Match 11: USC vs. Pepperdine, 10 a.m. (truTV)
>> Match 12: Florida State-UCLA winner vs. LSU-Hawaii winner, 11 a.m. (truTV)
Sunday
>> Match 13: Match 12 winner vs. USC-Pepperdine loser, 5 a.m.
>> Championship: USC-Pepperdine winner vs. Match 13 winner, 8 a.m. (TBS)
No. 5 Hawaii def. No. 4 Florida State 3-1
>> Court 1: Mikayla Tucker-Morgan Martin (UH) def. Leigh Andrew-Brooke Kuhlman, 21-15, 21-14.
>> Court 2: Nikki Taylor-Kaiwi Schucht (UH) def. Vanessa Freire-Victoria Paranagua (FSU), 21-16, 18-21, 15-13.
>> Court 3: Laurel Weaver-Emily Maglio (UH) vs. Sierra Sanchez-Macy Jerger (FSU), 21-23, 21-19, 17-17 DNF
>> Court 4: Carly Kan-Ari Homayun (UH) def. Katie Horton-Francesca Goncalves (FSU), 21-14, 16-21, 15-9.
>> Court 5: Hailey Luke-Eva Torruella (FSU) def. Amy Ozee-Hannah Zalopany (UH), 21-16, 22-20.
Order of finish: 5, 1, 4, 2
No. 1 USC def. No. 5 Hawaii 3-0
>> Court 1: Kelly Claes-Sara Hughes (USC) def. Mikayla Tucker-Morgan Martin (UH) 21-17, 22-20
>> Court 2: Nikki Taylor-Kaiwi Schucht (UH) vs. Sophie Bukovec-Allie Wheeler (USC) 21-12, 10-21, 3-6 DNF
>> Court 3: Terese Cannon-Nicolette Martin (USC) def. Laurel Weaver-Emily Maglio (UH) 21-19, 21-13
>> Court 4: Abril Bustamante-Joy Dennis (USC) def. Carly Kan-Ari Homayun (UH) 21-18, 25-23
>> Court 5: Amy Ozee-Hannah Zalopany (UH) vs. Jenna Belton-Jo Kremer (USC) 12-21, 21-15 DNF.
Order of finish: 3, 4, 1
