Beach Volleyball Closes 2018 Season With Pair of Friday Losses
May 4, 2018
GULF SHORES, ALA. – South Carolina’s beach volleyball team closed its season Friday afternoon at the NCAA tournament losing duals with No. 3 Hawai’i, 3-0, and No. 7 LSU, 3-2. The Gamecocks finish the season with a 24-9 overall record, their most successful to date.
In a tournament played only through a deciding third point, South Carolina found itself playing catch-up early against the Rainbow Wahine (37-3). A sweep on court three and four put the Gamecocks back 2-0, but fighting hard on courts one and two. Cadie Bates and Katie Smith were down a set but only trailing 22-21 in set two when the deciding match on court five was clinched. Ali Denney and Shannon Williams were in a third set on court two at the conclusion of the dual, fighting back from a first set loss to win 21-16 in the second.
Denney and Williams would finally have their chance to close out a match when the Gamecocks faced LSU in the elimination bracket just over an hour later in the day. The Tigers went up 1-0 after a sweep on court one, but Denney and Williams took care of business in straight sets to even to dual. It will go down as the team’s first point scored at the NCAA tournament, and was also the pair’s 30th career win together.
A win at the fives put LSU back ahead, but courts three and four were up for grabs in third sets. LSU would clinch the win at court three, but in a fitting end to their careers, Leah Perri and Macie Tendrich scored the winning point in their match on court four before the match was declared over. The 17-21, 21-15, 15-13 victory was the duo’s 24th of the season, and the 95th overall win for Tendrich, who leaves South Carolina as the program’s all-time wins leader.
NOTABLE
- Tendrich’s 24 wins tied the record for most wins in a season by a senior with Perri and Adrianna Culbert (2017). Tendrich leaves Carolina with the sophomore and junior wins records as well.
- Denney and Williams ended the season on an eight-match win streak, and finished the season at 20-12.
- Perri and Tendrich finish as the team’s winningest pair this season, with 24 victories. It’s the second-most wins by a pair in school history.
- Julia Mannisto leaves Carolina with the second-most wins in school history, with 74 overall. Mannisto and Tendrich share the record for most matches played, with 131.
- Four of South Carolina’s five pairs reached 20 wins together this season. Just five pairs combined reached 20 wins in the first four years of the program.
