COLUMBIA, S.C. – Gamecock beach volleyball capped its weekend home tournament Sunday with two more win, defeating UNCW (5-1) by a 4-1 score and closing with a 5-0 sweep of Charleston (1-5). The Gamecocks improve to 4-4 for the spring.
Facing a previously undefeated UNCW squad in the morning, the Gamecocks continued to find success early in duals. Mere seconds apart, South Carolina went ahead 2-0 on the Seahawks with sweeps from Jolie Cranford and Chase Teal on court four (21-17, 21-17) and Morgan Downs and Sophie Bengoechea (21-11, 21-15). Hannah Mackenhausen and Riley Whitesides made short work of their match with a 21-10, 21-12 sweep on court two to clinch the team win at 3-0, and Skylar Allen and Allison Coens wrapped up the team’s wins with a comeback win in three sets on court one.
The weekend finale against the Cougars followed a similar script to the team’s first three games. Sweeps on courts four, five and two, respectively, clinched the team win, but South Carolina would need to win a pair of three-set matches to get its first 5-0 result of the season. Abigail Lagemann and Peyton Yamagata overcame a tough 23-21 loss in their second set that pushed the match on court three to a third, but the duo took care of business with a 15-8 result for their first wins as Gamecocks. Allen and Coens finished off the victory after overcoming a first-set loss, winning 21-11, 16-14 in the second and third sets.
NOTABLE
- Peyton Yamagata and Abigail Lagemann each picked up their first wins as Gamecocks in the weekend finale against Charleston. The pair went three sets in each of the four duals this weekend and finally broke through. For the season, five of Yamagata and Lagemann’s seven total matches together have gone three sets.
- The team’s second, fourth and fifth pairings went 4-0 for the weekend and dropped just one set combined between the three duos. Seniors Hannah Mackenhausen and Riley Whitesides would be the clinching point in all four of the team wins and move to 6-2 for the spring as a pair, best on the team.
- Mackenhausen’s 26 career starts on court two moves her past Kaeli Crews (2020-23) for eighth-most in program history. Her 17 wins on two are seventh-most, tied now with Aubrey Ezell (2016-18).
- Also in the record book, Mackenhausen reached 70 career wins after taking down Charleston. She is the fifth Gamecock in program history with 70 career dual wins.
- Skylar Allen made her 100th career start in the top pairing in the weekend finale…