SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championships A Success As Gators Wrap Up Spring
Sunday, April 13, 2008 | Volleyball
The University of Florida capped its spring season on Saturday in front of a large and energetic audience at the SEC Coaches Beach Volleyball Championships. Held at the Southwest Recreation Center on the UF campus, the event was the first-ever beach volleyball tournament put on by an NCAA Division I conference.
“I don't think anyone here, whether they were a fan, participant, official or coach, could say that this event wasn't an enormous success in every aspect,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “We were proud to host the other volleyball-playing schools of the SEC on our campus, and I feel confident in saying that the event met the first-class standard that the University of Florida holds itself to.”
Rising junior libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) and rising redshirt freshman outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) cruised through their first match in the Kramer pool with a 21-11, 21-13 win over Auburn's Milena Bukinac and Sarah Shanks, and followed that effort up with a 21-17, 21-17 win over Tennessee's Nikki Fowler and Kylie Marshall. The pair split their next match (20-22, 21-19) against Eva Kriegel and Dorey Gray of Mississippi State, battling back for a hard-fought win in the second set after a tough opener. Cusack and Jaeckel dropped their second contest of the afternoon to Georgia, but finished in the top half of the Roy Kramer pool with a 2-1-1 record in the round robin. The duo was eliminated in the first round of the Gold Level playoffs (21-19), however, in a spirited bout with South Carolina's Jordan Bradosky and Hannah Lawing.
After splitting their first three matches in the Schiller pool, rising sophomore outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) and rising sophomore defensive specialist Erin Fleming (Orlando, Fla.) got in the win column in their final pool-play match, as they took down Auburn by identical 21-11 scores. Much like Cusack and Jaeckel, the pair battled in their first-round playoff match against Lindsey Buteyn and Lauren Martin of Alabama, but fell by a score of 21-19 in the one-set contest.
The rising senior duo of middle blocker Kelsey Bowers (Gainesville, Fla.) and defensive specialist Christina Diaz (Hollywood, Fla.) also opened up in the Schiller pool with a split against Lindsey Buteyn and Lauren Martin of Alabama, then rebounded to take a 21-10, 21-9 win over Tennessee's Chloe Goldman and Leah Hinkey. The pair dropped a straight set decision to Georgia midway through the afternoon, but bounced back yet again with a split against Mississippi State to run their pool-play mark to 1-1-2 on the afternoon. The squad was also eliminated in the first round of their respective playoff bracket by South Carolina.
Playing in the McWhorter pool, rising junior setter Alli Cecchini (Brentwood, Calif.) and rising sophomore opposite hitter Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.) were the first pair in the field to record a victory on Saturday, taking the Mississippi State team of Kaitlin Wheatley, Kayla Woodard and Stefanie Joyner down in straight sets (21-14, 21-11). They turned in a split with South Carolina in their second outing of the day before picking up a straight-set win (21-17, 21-17) over Tennessee in the early afternoon. After splitting their final pool-play match with LSU, Cecchini and Bledsoe made a run through the All-Terrain Level bracket, dispatching Alabama and Georgia on the way to the final. In the All-Terrain championship, the pair battled Petra Lorenzi and Megan Laughlin of South Carolina until the late stages of the match before dropping a 21-15 decision.
“Our players don't have a lot of experience playing on the sand, and that showed today,” Wise said. “Everything we learned in this process, and the strides we made on the sand, will unquestionably help us with the indoor game.”
Georgia was the recipient of the inaugural Commissioner's Cup trophy, which was awarded to the team that accumulated the most points in pool play, and the Bulldogs' Britta Buethe and Erika Clark claimed the Gold Level title. Kyna Washington and Lauren DeGirolamo captured the Silver Level crown, while Milan Clarke and Lauren Laflamme emerged victorious from an all-Tennessee final to take the top prize in the Bronze Level.
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