Rainbow Wahine advance to play top-seeded USC in NCAA beach volleyball championship tournament
Rainbow Wahine advance to play top-seeded USC in NCAA beach volleyball championship tournament
By Cindy Luis
Seventh-seeded Hawaii remained alive in the NCAA beach volleyball championship tournament today in Gulf Shores, Ala., sweeping eighth-seeded Stetson 3-0 this morning.
The Rainbow Wahine (28-10) advance to play top-seeded USC (30-5) at 7 a.m. Hawaii time. The Women of Troy eliminated third-seeded Florida State earlier today 3-1.
Hawaii won at Flights 3, 4 and 5 with Flights 4 and 5 in the third set when the clinching point came. Sofia Russo and Norene Iosia earned the third point with a 21-14, 22-20 victory over Quinci Birker-Rebecca Ingram.
Russo-Iosia held off two set points when trailing 20-18. An ace by Russo, a block by Iosia and a Hatters hitting error gave the SandBows dual point at 21-20; a net violation by Stetson completed the comeback.
Also winning for Hawaii were Morgan Martin-Pani Napoleon over Ana Costa-Rachel Nobel, 21-15, 21-18 at Flight 3, and Kylin Loker-Hi’ilawe Huddleston over Samantha Harris-Julie Varga, 21-14, 21-15 at Flight 4.
The Hatters, who upset USC in Friday’s opener, finish the season at 30-10.
