COLUMBIA, S.C. – HCU beach saw its nine-match winning streak end, dropping duals to No. 16 South Carolina and Tampa, on Saturday at the Gamecock Grand Slam held at Wheeler Beach on the University of South Carolina campus.
In the opening matchup of the tournament, the Huskies (11-8) dropped a 5-0 decision to the host Gamecocks (13-7). HCU's No. 2 pair of
Lindsay Harris and
Kristen Kleymeyer fell in a tightly-contested three sets (22-24, 21-18, 15-12) while the No. 4 pair of
Shelby O'Neal and
Paige Palmer also went to three sets before falling (21-15, 16-21, 15-13).
Against the Spartans it was Harris and Kleymeyer who earned the Huskies' point at the twos with a two-set victory (21-12, 21-16). HCU's No. 3 pair of
Abbey Bufkin and
Abbey Reinard won their first set before ultimately falling in three (19-21, 21-16, 15-10). O'Neal and Palmer also got out to a lead with a first-set win but were undone in three (17-21, 21-15, 15-12).
Day two of the Gamecock Grand Slam gets off to an early start for HCU on Sunday, Mar. 26, with a 7:00 a.m. CT pairing with Arizona State before closing the tournament against 11
th-ranked Georgia State at 1:00 p.m. CT.
