April 19, 2009

 Photo Gallery 

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Nine members of the North Carolina volleyball team competed at the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship in Riverside, Calif. on Saturday and went up against the likes of No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Texas, No. 7 Hawai'i, No. 13 Southern California, No. 16 Utah and No. 19 San Diego en route to claiming a sixth place finish in the event. The event wraps up the Tar Heels spring schedule as they set to defend their Atlantic Coast Conference title in the 2009 season this fall.

In the A flight Stephanie Jansma and Christine Vaughen represented the Tar Heels as the duo dropped a nail-biter to Texas 21-18, before falling to Hawai'i 21-7. The group bounced back and battled San Diego to a narrow 21-17 defeat to complete pool play. Texas got the the better of the Tar Heels in bracket play 15-13 and 15-11 before the pair scored their first win of the weekend with a 21-18 over Utah. Hawai'i barely knocked off the Tar Heels 21-19 to claim fifth place as Carolina earned a sixth place finish.

The group of Heather Brooks and Kaylie Gibson faired a little better in pool play as they were able to knock off San Diego 21-19 after dropping a pair of matches to Texas (21-12) and Hawai'i (21-19). The duo was unable to make any noise in bracket play as they dropped a 15-7 and 15-12 match to Hawai'i before falling to Nebraska 21-18.

Lauren Prussing and Suzanne Haydel turned in the best performance of any of the Tar Heel groups in pool play as after dropping a 21-10 decision to Texas the duo took down Hawai'i, 21-16 before controlling a 21-14 decision against San Diego. The Tar Heels took the opening game 15-13 against Hawai'i but the Warriors battled back to take a pair of 15-9 decisions to win the match. Carolina bounced back however with a 21-13 win over UC Riverside before routing San Diego, 21-9 for a fifth place finish.

The final group of Brianna Eskola, Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland and Erica Behm went 1-2 in pool play falling to Texas, 21-18, and narrowly dropping a 21-19 decision to Hawai'i before taking down San Diego, 21-11. In bracket play the Tar Heels dropped a hard fought battle with Southern California, 12-15, 15-12, 16-14, before bowing out against San Diego, 21-13.

The teams earned points for their finishes in each flight with the points weighted more towards the higher flights. Southern California claimed the team title with 37 points, while Nebraska and Texas finished second and third respectively with 34 and 32 points. Hawai'i and San Diego finished in a tie for fourth place 23 points, while Carolina claimed sixth place with 14 points edging out Utah (10) and UC Riverside (7).