TAVARES, Fla. --- The Tusculum University beach volleyball team began the three-day AVCA Small College Beach Championships on Friday (Apr. 16). The squad dropped both of its pool play matches, while Destiny Ramsey and Madalyn Bass advanced in the Pairs Challenge.
Tusculum (3-6) will play its final pool match against No. 9 seed Florida Southern at 10 a.m. The outcome will determine the Pioneers' challenge match seeding and opponent, but both possibilities are scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.
The Pair Challenge duo of Ramsey and Bass take to the sand at 8 a.m. in the Bronze A Playoff against a team from Catawba.
Match 1: Texas A&M-Kingsville 4, Tusculum 1
The Pioneers' 2-5 flights fell in straight sets to the Javelinas, but the No. 1 pair of Emma Johnson and Haley Davis earned TU's lone win of the match.
Johnson and Davis faced stiff competition in their top flight opponent from Texas A&M-Kingsville, grinding out a 21-18, 23-21 victory.
At No. 2, freshmen Charlyn Miller and Olivia O'Keefe fell 21-13, 21-18, while at the 3's, Britney Shawel and Diana Bierwagen dropped a 22-20, 21-12 decision.
Skyellar Hall and Emily Lawless played in the fourth flight and lost 21-11, 21-17. Rounding out the team score were the No. 5 pair, Mabry Ward and Arizona Webb. The duo were downed 21-8, 21-19.
Match 2: Palm Beach Atlantic 5, Tusculum 0
TU battled in the second match of pool play, but the Sailfish edged the Pioneers by taking all 10 sets. The pairings also stayed the same for Jason Morris' crew.
Flight #1 (Johnson/Davis) lost by identical 21-16, 21-16 set scores, while the third pair (Shawel/Bierwagen) collected a 23-21, 21-15 deficit. The fifth flight of Ward and Webb were defeated 21-11, 21-10.
The second (Miller/O'Keefe) and fourth (Hall/Lawless) pairings are credited with the exact same disadvantages, 21-19 and 21-17.
Pairs Challenge
Ramsey and Bass were paired together in competition for the first time this season and entered into the Pairs Challenge.
To begin pool play, the Pioneer duo were placed alongside pairings from Hendrix and Texas A&M-Kingsville. The TU partners lost to both, but pushed the Warriors to three sets (21-16, 18-21, 9-15) and gave the Javelinas a fight (21-19, 21-17).
The Tusculum partnership ran away from their Corban counterparts, winning a 28-15 single-set challenge round match.
