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No. 5 Hawaii beach volleyball beats Saint Mary’s, loses to Pepperdine on opening day

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Hawaii’s Ari Homayun (1) bumps back the ball at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic today. Homayun and Julia Scoles defeated Pepperdine’s Skylar Caputo and Jenna Tunnell 21-16, 21-9.

No. 5 Hawaii won its first two flights against No. 4 Pepperdine but couldn’t hold on as the Waves rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Rainbow Wahine today in the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Classic at Queen’s Beach.

Hawaii (1-1) opened with a 4-1 win over Saint Mary’s earlier today. The SandBows’ lone loss to the Gaels (0-2) came at the No. 5 flight where Paige Dreeuws and Sofia Russo fell to King Kekaulike graduate Chandler Cowell and Selbie Christensen, 13-21, 21-19, 15-11.

Hawaii won the first four flights in straight sets. Cowell is the younger sister of Rainbow Warrior junior hitter Colton Cowell.

Against Pepperdine (2-0), Hawaii took a 2-0 lead on wins at Nos. 2 and 3. Amy Ozee and Morgan Martin defeated Gigi Hernandez- Deahna Kraft, 21-15, 21-11, and Ari Homayun and Julia Scoles topped Sklar Caputo-Jenna Tunnell, 21-16, 21-9.

In today’s other matches, top-ranked UCLA swept both No. 11 Stanford and Saint Mary’s 5-0. The defending national champion Bruins (3-0) dropped just one set against the Cardinal and two against the Gaels.

Also, Pepperdine clinched its match with Stanford when taking a 3-0 lead en route to a 3-2 victory. The Cardinal picked up wins at Flights 2 and 3 after the dual was decided.

The tournament concludes Sunday with five matches beginning at 9 a.m.

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