It was a tough ending when battling a tougher opponent on Saturday. For the second consecutive year in the East Meets West Challenge beach volleyball tournament, Hawaii couldn’t put away Florida State on the sands of Manhattan Beach, Calif.

The fifth-ranked Rainbow Wahine (3-3) led the afternoon dual with the No. 4 Seminoles 2-1 only to lose the last two flights in three sets. At No. 5, Kylin Loker-Jenna Banz couldn’t hold off Marcy Jergen-Jenna Johnson, 14-21, 21-14, 15-12, the loss tying the match and the deciding dual being played out on court 2.

Hawaii’s Emily Maglio-Hi’ilawe Huddleson led Set 3 11-9 only to have FSU tie it on an ace and kill that trickled off the tape onto the Wahine’s side. The Seminoles’ Alaina Chacon-Madison Fitzpatrick went on to a 21-18, 20-22, 15-13 victory.

It was the third consecutive win for FSU over the SandBows, the other coming in last year’s NCAA tournament.

“I’m proud of their effort, coming back (in Set 2),” Hawaii coach Jeff Hall said of Maglio-Huddleston. “We’re not good enough yet and we know we have to perform better.

“Some of it was a little bit of performance anxiety. If we just play our style, play like we practice, we’ll be fine.”

The SandBows finish the tournament today against No. 6 LSU and No. 9 Florida International.

Hawaii opened the morning with a 4-1 win over No. 19 TCU. The Seminoles also won their opener, upsetting No. 3 Pepperdine 4-1.

Against the Horned Frogs (5-5), the SandBows won in straight sets at Flights 1 and 4 with Morgan Martin-Amy Ozee sweeping Jaelyn Green-Victoria McDonald, 21-18, 21-14, on court 1, and Paige Dreeuws-Pani Napoleon over Jordan Westerndorf-Caroline White, 27-25, 21-16 on court 4.

Leading 2-1, Hawaii clinched the dual at No. 3 when Julia Scoles-Ari Homayun held off Taylor Bradley-Claire Doyle, 21-14, 17-21, 15-8. Scoles’ ace capped the victory.

“It was tighter than the scores make it,” Hall said. “There were some close moments. We played a little tentative and they didn’t fold on us.”