FSU Beach Volleyball Falls Short to No. 1 UCLA in Title Game

It was some run for Florida State, but the Seminoles came up one win short of their first beach volleyball national championship. Fourth-seeded FSU fell to No. 1 UCLA in the national title game on Sunday, 3-1.

Lily Justine and Remy Wilson clinched the dual for the Bruins with a straight set win over FSU’s Katie Horton and Hailey Luke. The teams split two 3-set matches to get underway on Sunday in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

UCLA took the first point with a 17-21, 24-22, 15-8 win for Izzy Carey and Megan Muret over the Florida State combination of Madison Fitzpatrick and Francesca Goncalves. Fitzpatrick and Goncalves had match point at 22-21 in the second set, but UCLA answered with three straight points to force the third set.

The Seminoles were able to even things up with a 3-set victory from Molly McBain and Brooke Kuhlman over UCLA’s Mac May and Elise Zappia, 21-15, 19-21, 15-12. UCLA won every set from there on out and went up 2-1 with a straight set victory from Savvy Simo and Zana Muno.

The loss for Florida State ends a streak of 21 straight duals won. The Seminoles have reached the national championship dual in two of three seasons since the NCAA recognized beach volleyball as a sport.

FSU opened the NCAA Tournament with wins over UCLA and USC on Friday before clinching a spot in the title dual with a thrilling win over Hawaii on Saturday. UCLA topped the Sunbows, 3-2, early Sunday to get a second shot at the Seminoles for the title. It was the Seminoles who ended UCLA’s season last year in the NCAA Tournament.

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