ATLANTA, Ga. – Beach volleyball swept the competition on Friday (Mar.23) at GSU's Diggin' Duals with wins against Jacksonville State (4-1) and Mercer (3-2). Three Warhawk pairs finished with a clean 2-0 slate against their opponents.
"Today was a great day," says head beach volleyball coach
Russ Friedland. "Anytime a team goes 2-0 on the day, a statement is made about the team- it says a lot to their opponents."
ULM (7-6) kicked off the duals with a 4-1 win over Jacksonville State. The Warhawks walked away with wins on courts one, two, three, and five.
"The fact that the wins came from different pairs in each dual is promising, if all pairs are firing at the same time- we will be hard to stop," said Friedland.
Warhawks
Rebecca Brown and Cat Griffith stay among the top for ULM, as they defeated JSU's Shayla Schmidt and Hailey Hughes (21-9, 21-9). Pairs
Gabby Love and Gracey Convey had a dominant showing against the Gamecocks as well, beating out Katie Will and Sadie Anderson (21-14, 21-9).
ULM continued their success into the afternoon, taking out Mercer, 3-2. Love and Convey went 2-0 on the day with a (21-15, 24-22) win over the Bears Sophie Peel and Kacy Ogden on court one.
Pairs
Maile Sellers and
Kayla Gallant, and
Holland Ponthieux and
Allie Kemp both finished undefeated on day one as well. Sellers and Gallant defeated Jacksonville State's Hannah Kirk and Kaylie Milton (21-17, 20-22, 15-10) before taking down Mercer's Jessica Johnson and Ellie Gibson in two close sets (23-21, 23-21).
Ponthieux and Kemp were victorious over Gamecocks Maddie Cloutier and Mackenzie Rombach in straight sets (21-19, 21-9), and ended the day with a three-set win over Bears Marina Chavez and Emilee Wissmach (21-14, 13-21, 15-13).
"The competition tomorrow is tough and we have to show up ready to go first thing in the morning," Friedland said. "I'm excited to see how the team responds after a great day in the sand today, we'll be looking to carry our momentum straight into Saturday's matches."
The Warhawks will continue play at GSU's Diggin' Duals tomorrow (Mar.24) at 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. when they play North Florida and host-team No.9 Georgia State respectively.
Reminder to all fans, times listed are in central time, as the Warhawks will be competing in eastern time at GSU. Fans are encouraged to follow the Sandyhawks throughout their season on Twitter at @ULM_beachVB and on Instagram at @ULM_VB.
