HOUSTON – With the Southland Conference Beach Volleyball Championships on the horizon, the HCU beach program wrapped up the regular season with a pair of wins over visiting Stephen F. Austin and Tarleton State on Wednesday at Third Coast Volleyball Club.
First up, the Huskies (10-21) earned a 4-1 win over SFA (10-19). HCU's No. 4 pair,
Mary Alper and
Tatum Lockhardt, picked up the first point with a two-set victory (21-11, 21-19) with the LadyJacks taking the point at the fives to even the score.
Abbey Bufkin and
Kristen Kleymeyer, the Huskies' No. 1 pair, put HCU back in the lead thanks to a 21-17, 21-18 win before
Paige Palmer and
Audrey Pearce secured the win for the Huskies with a 21-14, 21-17 win at the threes.
Kristin Gilmour and
Rachel Heilbrun then closed out the twos with a hard-fought 21-17, 29-27 win.
Then, facing first-year program Tarleton (1-11) in the late afternoon, HCU rolled to a 5-0 decision.
Kylann Griffith and
Lauren Vickery won points number one for the Huskies at the fives, winning 21-10, 21-12. Alper and Lockhardt followed at the fours with a 21-14, 21-17 win with Gilmour and Heilbrun shutting the door on the Texans No. 3 pair, 21-8, 21-9. Bufkin and Kleymeyer then won at the ones, 22-20, 22-20, before Palmer and Pearce finished the sweep off in three (21-19, 18-21, 15-9).
Kleymeyer, a senior, entered the day tied for fifth in program history in individual wins and now stands alone in fifth with 54 career wins, just two away from tying for fourth. The freshmen duo of Gilmour and Heilbrun leads the team in pairs wins with a 10-9 record, all played at the twos.
HCU will host the SLC Championships at Third Coast from Friday through Sunday, Apr. 19-21, with the Huskies' owning the No. 3 seed in the tournament. The Huskies will take on No. 6 seed Southeastern on Friday at 11:30 a.m.
