[Beach Volleyball] Hawks Take Two Matches from Defending National Champion OUAZ
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – The San Diego Christian beach team made great strides during day one of the midseason Golden State Athletic Conference Beach Volleyball Tournament. Although the Hawks lost to both matches to Hope International and Ottawa-AZ, each match went down to the wire with 2-3 score lines.
In match one against HIU, SDCC #1's Katie Call and Thea Snider got the team out to an early lead defeating their Royals counterparts 3-2 in a tiebreaker.
Natalie Hill and Jocelyn Remick would also win a 3-set tiebreaker, but San Diego Christian's Aixa Crespo and Eliana Cho would be edged out in a tiebreak set in the fours.
Match two saw the ever-improving Hawks put the fear of the talon into defending national champion Ottawa-AZ.
The SDCC breakout team performance occurred in match two against the #2 ranked, defending national champion OUAZ Spirit. Although the Hawks lost the team match 2-3, the coaches were encouraged by the improvement the team had made over their previous 0-5 loss to Ottawa a month ago.
SDCC was able to claim two huge individual match victories from the Spirit and nearly upset them by pushing a third and deciding set in the #3 position to a tiebreaker.
Led by the veteran #2 pairing of Jewel McDonough and Jessica Pinasco, who won 21-11, 18-21, 15-11, the Hawks showed the rest of the GSAC that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.
One of the most consistent pairings for San Diego Christian, veteran Aixa Crespo, and newcomer Eliana Cho, claimed a three-match victory (21-16, 13-21, 15-9) setting the stage for a dramatic finish.
Unfortunately, the upset came up just short, but SDCC's Megan Flores and Brianna Martindale gave the coaches something to cheer about. "We are proud of the improvement that the team has made in the last month and are very excited for the future", said coach Gene Krieger. "We are improving every day while competing against the top teams in the country! The future is very bright for our squad!"