NEW ORLEANS, La. – The HCU beach team won twice on Saturday at the Southland Conference Mid-Season Tournament, taking down conference foes McNeese and San Jose State to make it three wins in-a-row at Privateer Beach.
The Huskies (5-17, 4-1 SLC) faced the McNeese Cowgirls (2-16, 1-3) in the opening match of the day, earning a 5-0 win. HCU's No. 1 pair of
Abbey Bufkin and
Kristen Kleymeyer pulled out a three-set victory (21-15, 19-21, 15-7) with
Kristin Gilmour and
Rachel Heilbrun earning a 21-9, 21-16 win at the twos.
Paige Palmer and
Audrey Pearce, the Huskies' No. 3 pairing, posted a convincing 21-8, 21-14 win while
Mary Alper and
Gabi Axelrod won in straight sets (21-12, 21-15) at the fours. The most commanding win of the dual came from the No. 5 pair,
Kylann Griffith and
Tatum Lockhardt in the form of a 21-11, 21-9 two-set win.
In the afternoon, HCU won a hard-fought 4-1 dual over the Spartans (9-8, 3-2 SLC) with four of the five matchups going to three sets. Palmer and Pearce, again playing at the threes, won in two sets (21-18, 21-16) for their fifth-consecutive win as a duo. Griffith and Lockhardt picked up their point at the fives in three sets (12-21, 27-25, 15-10) and the Huskies also got a point from No. 2 pair Gilmour and Heilbrun with a 17-21, 21-13, 15-12 win. Top pair Bufkin and Kleymeyer earned their win in three sets (24-22, 17-21, 16-14) with the lone blemish on the day coming at the fours with Alper and Axelrod dropping their match in three (21-10, 16-21, 15-12).
HCU finishes up at the SLC Mid-Season Tournament on Sunday, Mar. 24, with duals against No. 20 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 10:30 a.m. followed by Nicholls at 2:30 p.m.
