COVINGTON, La. – Another two wins are in the book after Spring Hill College beach volleyball swept the University of Southern Mississippi and University of New Orleans on March 2, the final day of the New Orleans Invitational at Dig Volleyball Complex. The Sandy Badgers are now 7-0 on the season.
"I'm very pleased with the start of the season. As I stated before we did a much better job of carrying things we've been working on in our training sessions to the matches," said Spring Hill coach
Shawn Taylor. "The girls have been working hard for the last two months. They're excited to take a few days off to refresh and refocus mentally and physically. We look forward to being back in action next weekend in Gulf Shores."
After defeating Nicholls State University and Huntingdon College on Friday, Spring Hill moved to 2-0 on the year against University of Southern Mississippi with a 3-2 win and then defeated the University of New Orleans, 4-1.
Spring Hill lost the first two pairings against Southern Miss, starting in a 2-0 hole before sweeping the final three matches for the win.
"Credit to their team because they came out ready to play and forced us to adjust our game. Our 3s had the local support with
Allison Weimer being from Covington and after struggling a little bit the opening weekend I really felt like her and partner
Caroline Herrera settled into a nice rhythm," Taylor said. "At the 4s
Emily Greim and
Sarah Senft were able to capitalize off of opponent service errors and win a decisive victory in the third set."
Pairs 2 through 5 collected wins against host New Orleans to complete the 4-1 victory and sweep the invitational.
"We knew they were going to be ready to challenge us. Sully (
Emily Sullivan) and Emma (
Emmarose Neibert) came out firing. Talking with them before I thought they had a great strategy and were able to execute it well. Greim and Senft picked up the win just after Sully and Emma. The match was clinched with a win at the 2's with Britt and Taylor. Allison and Caroline were able to punctuate the win pulling off a victory at the 3's. We talk about getting better every point and every match. I felt, as a team, we did a great job of making the last match of the weekend our best one," Taylor said.
The 2019 beach volleyball season continues March 8-10 at the UAB Blazer Beach Duals. Spring Hill will meet New Orleans and Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Friday, March 8, Southern Miss and Houston Baptist University on Saturday and then Austin Peay University on Sunday.
Spring Hill 3, Southern Miss 2
1. Kylie Grandy/Lindsey Legg (USM) def.
Payton Gidney/
Kassandra Fairly (SHC), 22-20, 20-17
2. Abbey Wilson/Cyan Blackdeer (USM) def.
Brittany Bilotti/
Taylor Hurst (SHC), 17-21, 21-16, 15-10
3.
Caroline Herrera/
Allison Weimer (SHC) def. Kellie Garraway/Piper Matsumoto (USM), 21-17, 21-13
4.
Sarah Senft/
Emily Greim (SHC) def. Olivia Hepworth/Breleigh Favre (USM), 21-19, 14-21, 15-10
5.
Emmarose Neibert/
Emily Sullivan (SHC) def. Madison Lawler/Jessica Austin (USM), 21-19, 21-15
6.
Leanne Sorrel/
Patty Blood (SHC) def. Chloe Klusman/Kinsley Hanback (USM), 21-14, 19-21, 16-14
Spring Hill 4, New Orleans 1
1. Rachel Kuhn/Veronica Corcoran (UNO) def.
Payton Gidney/
Kassandra Fairly (SHC) 21-12, 21-13
