BATON ROUGE, La. - The Spring Hill College Sandy Badgers finished play at the Tiger Beach Challenge Saturday, dropping a pair of matches to Southern Mississippi (3-2) and Tulane (4-1) at Mango's Beach Volleyball Club.
Though his squad went 0-4 on the weekend, Spring Hill head coach Shawn Taylor said he did see some bright spots.
"We shook up the lineup (Saturday) in hopes that we could get a little more production across the board," said Taylor. "Cassidi Sterrett came into the lineup at the No. 2 spot. For her first year of competing for us, I think she brings us a good energy and isn't afraid to take aggressive swings. She's also been comfortable using her hands to set whatever partner she's with, making that teammate better.
"I feel like the other bright spot came from Allison Weimer and Caroline Herrera," Taylor continued. "They really came out focused and put pressure on the other teams to perform at their best. They took away three wins this weekend with their only loss to a talented Georgia State team. As a team, we would have liked to come out with a little more fight than we had against this weekend's competition, though."
Spring Hill (12-6) and Southern Miss (8-17) squared off for the fourth time this season, with the Sandy Badgers winning the first three meetings. However, it was the Golden Eagles who came out on top on Saturday. The overall match was tight, with three of five matches going to a third set.
Spring Hill got victories from Emily Greim and Brittany Bilotti, who outlasted Breleigh Favre and Kellie Garraway, 21-19, 12-21, 15-11 at No. 3, and Weimer and Herrera, who rallied to knock off Cyan Blackdeer and Olivia Hepworth, 18-21, 21-12, 15-13 at No. 4.
In the Tulane match, Herrera and Weimer posted the lone Sandy Badgers victory - beating Gabriella Becerra and Ellie Leitko, 21-15, 21-18, at No. 4 - but Spring Hill was competitive in the other four matches, scoring at least 13 points in every set against the Green Wave (14-8).
The Sandy Badgers - whose six defeats have all come to Division I opponents - are now off until April 6, when they travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., for matches against Louisiana-Monroe and William Carey at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

Tiger Beach Challenge
hosted by LSU
at Mango's Beach Volleyball Club
Baton Rouge, La.
Southern Miss 3, Spring Hill 2
1. Kylie Grandy/Lindsey Legg (USM) def. Payton Gidney/Kassandra Fairly (SHC) 22-20, 14-21, 15-9
2. Abbey Wilson/Piper Matsumoto (USM) def. Taylor Hurst/Cassidi Sterrett (SHC) 23-21, 21-19
3. Emily Greim/Brittany Bilotti (SHC) def. Breleigh Favre/Kellie Garraway (USM) 21-19, 12-21, 15-11
4. Allison Weimer/Caroline Herrera (SHC) def. Cyan Blackdeer/Olivia Hepworth (USM) 18-21, 21-12, 15-13
5. Jessica Austin/Madison Lawler (USM) def. Emily Sullivan/Sarah Senft (SHC) 21-17, 21-15
Ext. Chloe Klusman/Lindsey Smith (USM) def. Leanne Sorrel/Ryann Horkavy (SHC) 16-21, 21-15, 15-13
Tulane 4, Spring Hill 1
1. Kaylie McHugh/Addison Hermstad (TUL) def. Kassandra Fairly/Payton Gidney (SHC) 21-17, 21-17
2. Rio Frohoff/Lauren Orlich (TUL) def. Cassidi Sterrett/Taylor Hurst (SHC) 21-15, 21-17
3. Tarin Mergener/Haley Gibson (TUL) def. Brittany Bilotti/Emily Greim (SHC) 21-15, 21-18
4. Caroline Herrera/Allison Weimer (SHC) def. Gabriella Becerra/Ellie Leitko (TUL) 21-12, 21-19
5. Kilani Daane/Morgan Esters (TUL) def. Emmarose Neibert/Sarah Senft (SHC) 21-13, 21-19