BATON ROUGE, La. – HCU beach lost a pair of matches to North Alabama and Nebraska on Sunday at the LSU Tiger Beach Challenge but the Huskies' No. 1 pair of
Kristin Gilmour and
Kristen Kleymeyer won both their duals at the LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium.
HCU (1-7) opened the day against North Alabama (5-3), falling 4-1, with the Gilmour/Kleymeyer pairing earning a three-set victory (21-18, 15-21, 15-12) to secure the Huskies' lone point.
Mary Alper and
Abbey Bufkin, playing at the twos, took their match to three sets but came out on the wrong end, 18-21, 21-14, 15-8.
The Huskies' afternoon dual with Nebraska (8-3) was a nail-biter with Gilmour/Kleymeyer taking a point in two sets (21-16, 21-16) while Alper and Bufkin also picked up a point, finishing off the Cornhuskers in two sets at the twos (21-18, 22-20). Each of the other three matches went to three sets with
Gabi Axelrod and
Rachel Heilbrun coming up short at the No. 3 position (21-15, 16-21, 15-10) while at the fours,
Kylann Griffith and
Paige Palmer took a tough defeat (15-21, 21-15, 18-16).
Tatum Lockhardt and
Audrey Pearce suffered a tough loss at the fives (22-20, 10-21, 17-15).
The duos of Gilmour/Kleymeyer and Alper/Bufkin are now tied for the team lead with three wins each this season.
The Huskies make the trip to the Sunshine State next weekend for the Tampa Invite 2 on Friday and Saturday, Mar. 8-9, with duals set against No. 4 Florida State, Florida Gulf Coast, Coastal Carolina and No. 19 Tampa.