HOUSTON, TX –The ULM beach volleyball team wrapped up its first in-season tournament of the season on Saturday, February 27 with a pair of setbacks to LSU, 4-1, and Texas A&M—Corpus Christi, 3-2.
MATCH 3: (1) LSU 4, ULM 1
The Warhawks opened the day by taking on No. 1 ranked LSU, marking the first Top-5 opponent for ULM since a clash with second-ranked Florida State on February 21, 2020. The Tigers emerged with a 4-1 win in the eighth all-time meeting between the two Louisiana-based programs.
ULM's lone victory in the match came from the second-seeded
Katie McKay and
Anna Demmer, who claimed a 21-18, 15-21, 15-10 over the combination of Reilly Allred and Claire Coppola.
One of the four points for LSU came from the No. 1 seeds Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, who downed
Julia Blazek and
Audrey Brooks by scores of 21-12, 21-8. Tiger teammates Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope and Toni Rodriguez emerged with an 18-21, 21-18, 15-8 win over
Abigail Elder and
Kayla Gallant in a meeting of No. 3 seeds.
Ellie Shank and Jess Lansman teamed up to help LSU win a point in No. 4 singles (21-10, 21-8) by defeating
Abbey Bufkin and
Elizabeth Moreland. Meanwhile, on the fifth court, the Tigers duo of Kaylee York and Olivia Ordonez triumphed 21-8, 21-10 against Brooke Haven and
Kaitlyn Nowak.
MATCH 4: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3, ULM 2
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi completed the tournament sweep with a 3-2 victory over ULM (0-4) in Saturday's afternoon match when the two teams met for the second time in as many days. The Islanders have now won the last five straight matches in the head-to-head series, dating back to a 4-1 win on March 4, 2019.
One of the two Warhawk points came from the first-seeded tandem of
Julia Blazek and
Audrey Brooks, who claimed a 21-18, 23-25, 15-7 win over Brooke Pertuit and Guilana Corrales. The other came from the No. 3 seeded pairing of
Abigail Elder and
Kayla Gallant, who fought past Kylie Kvam and Brooke Adkisson by scores of 22-20, 21-16.
Meanwhile, the Islanders (3-1) picked up one of their three points as the No. 2 pair of Taylor Horsfall and Mary Dodge emerged with a two-set victory against
Katie McKay and
Anna Demmer by scores of 21-13, 21-16.
Teammates Emily Ramirez and Demi McInnis also provided the Islanders with a point from the No. 4 court following a 21-19, 19-21, 16-14 win over
Elizabeth Moreland and
Abbey Bufkin. Tori Johnson and Migie Mazurkeviciute delivered a point for the Islanders by virtue of a 21-15, 21-13 victory against the ULM pair of
Kaitlyn Nowak and Brooke Haven in a meeting of No. 5 seeded teams.
ULM returns to the courts on Friday, March 5 to open the Bayou Beach Duals in New Orleans to face Florida State (10:30 a.m.) and Spring Hill College (4:30 p.m.).
