FSU Beach Volleyball Survives Day 1 of NCAA Championships

Florida State survived the first day of the NCAA Beach Volleyball championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama. To get back to the national championship match however, FSU will need to win three straight.

Fourth-seeded Florida State managed to stave off elimination on Friday with a 3-0 victory over eighth-seeded South Carolina. The duos of Vanessa Freire/Victoria Paranagua and Brooke Kuhlman/Leigh Andrew each won in straight sets to get the Seminoles out to an early 2-0 lead.

FSU was able to clinch the match with a 3-set victory from Macy Jerger and Sierra Sanchez. That FSU combination defeated the South Carolina tandem of Macie Tendrich and Katie Zimmerman, 21-14, 17-21, 15-13 to eliminate the Gamecocks.

The day started for Florida State with a 3-1 loss to No. 5 seed Hawaii. The lone FSU pair to get a victory was Hailey Luke and Eva Torruella, who defeated Hawaii’s Amy Ozee and Hannah Zalopany in straight sets, 21-14, 22-20.

The Rainbow Warriors evened the match when Morgan Martin and Mikayla Tucker defeated the FSU duo of Kuhlman and Andrew in straight sets. Hawaii was able to take the match by winning two duels in three sets. Sierra Sanchez and Macy Jerger were ahead for FSU in the third set over Emily Maglio and Laurel Weaver when the match ended.

The Seminoles will be in action again on Saturday in another elimination match against either No. 3 seed Pepperdine or second-seeded UCLA. Both teams won their first matches on Friday.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson