COLUMBIA, S.C. – Gamecock beach volleyball opened its home tournament, the Carolina Challenge, Saturday. South Carolina opened with a 5-0 sweep of Tennessee Tech (3-3) but came up just a few points short in a 3-2 loss to North Florida (6-3). The team moves to 5-5 for the season.
The Gamecocks flew through their morning dual with Tennessee Tech, holding the opposition to under 14 points in all 10 sets for a 5-0 sweep. Two new pairings started the weekend together, Jolie Cranford with Peyton Yamagata on court three and Abigail Lagemann and Chase Teal on court four. Both would be solid in wins, with Cranford/Yamagata allowing just 17 points total in a 21-12, 21-5 sweep and Lagemann/Teal opening the dual with a 21-10, 21-13 sweep. Hannah Mackenhausen and Riley Whitesides clinched the team victory at 3-0 with a 21-11, 21-7 sweep on court two.
Mackenhausen and Whiteside stepped into the number one position for the evening dual with North Florida, a matchup that was tight wire-to-wire. The visitors jumped ahead in the first wave, starting with a 22-20, 23-21 thriller on court four. Sophie Bengoechea and Morgan Downs dropped their first set on court five, 22-20, but forced a third set after a 21-18 win. A 4-0 run early by UNF gave it a 6-3 lead in the game to 15. Out of a Carolina timeout, the Gamecocks won their side with four of the next five points to take back the lead at 8-7 and after trading points they would lead 13-12. UNF scored the final three points to take the 15-13 victory and a 2-0 lead in the team score.
That result would be key as the final three pairs hit the sand and the Gamecocks needing all three. South Carolina stormed out to big leads and sweeps on courts one and three, but needed to rally back after losing 21-19 in the opener on court two. Skylar Allen and Allison Coens took a big lead to start set two, but dropped the lead down the stretch and lost 21-19 again for the final point of the team dual.
NOTABLE
- Hannah Mackenhausen’s 105th career start, coming against North Florida, was the senior’s first in the number one pairing. Of her previous 104 appearances, 27 starts came at No. 2, 45 at No. 3, 27 at No. 4 and five at No. 5.
- Skylar Allen’s sweep of Tennessee Tech Saturday morning was her 70th career victory. The graduate student is now the sixth member of the program to reach 70 wins.
- South Carolina’s dual with Tennessee Tech is the first-ever meeting between the two programs. This is year two of the Golden Eagles’ beach…