ATLANTA, Ga. --- The Tusculum University beach volleyball team lost all three of its matches at the Georgia State Day of Duals on Wednesday (Mar. 9). TU was the lone Division II team at the round robin, facing Coastal Carolina, Mercer, and nationally-ranked Georgia State.
Tusculum (10-6) has a home exhibition date against Liberty on Friday (Mar. 11) before next Saturday's (Mar. 19) Coastal Carolina Invitational.
Match 1: Coastal Carolina 3, Tusculum 2
The bottom half of the TU lineup accounted for the points in the contest versus the Chanticleers.
At No. 4, Olivia Knutson and Katie McLamb tallied identical 21-18 set wins.
The fifth flight of Skyellar Hall and Emily Lawless was also tightly-contested with scores of 21-19, 21-17 in their favor.
In the exhibition matchup, Diana Bierwagen and Arizona Webb gutted out a three-set victory: 21-15, 14-21, 15-12.
Olivia O'Keefe and Charlyn Miller dropped a 21-13, 21-11 showing, while the No. 2 pair of Emma Johnson and Haley Davis fell 21-19, 21-16.
Britney Shawel and Landry Tea were on the wrong side of a 21-12, 21-17 flight three outcome.
Match 2: Mercer 3, Tusculum 2
The Pioneers' second match of the day fared the same way, with every win coming from the lower flights.
Knutson and McLamb garnered a 21-17, 21-6 victory at No. 4.
Hall and Lawless tallied a 21-16, 21-12 decision in the fifth slot.
Bierwagen and Webb won the exhibition flight 21-13, 22-20.
O'Keefe and Miller nearly pulled off a comeback in the top slot, dropping a 13-21, 21-15, 12-15 decision.
Johnson and Davis fell in straight sets at No. 2 (21-16, 21-15), as did the third pair of Shawel and Tea (21-19, 21-14).
Match 3: #16 Georgia State 5, Tusculum 0
Tusculum did not have much success against the nationally-ranked Panthers as five of the six flights were swept in consecutive sets.
Hall and Lawless drug out the No. 5 flight to a decisive third set, falling 21-18, 13-21, 7-15.
Knutson and McLamb moved up to the third pair and suffered their first loss of the day, 21-13, 21-10.
Bierwagen and Webb wrapped up their near-perfect day with a loss in the final flight: 21-12, 21-13.
The pairs of O'Keefe/Miller (21-10, 21-16), Johnson/Davis (21-18, 21-10), and Shawel/Tea (21-10, 21-6) went 0-3 at the Day of Duals after dropping their respective matches to the Panthers.
