NEW ORLEANS, La. – No. 5 seed HCU came up just short in its effort to advance to the final day of the 2025 Southland Conference Beach Volleyball Championship at Privateer Beach, dropping a heartbreaker to No. 3 San Jose State, 3-2.
HCU (13-20) and San Jose State (14-19) met following SJSU won an elimination matchup over McNeese earlier in the day. The Spartans picked up the first point of the match on Court 3 with a win (21-19, 21-15) over
Audrey Pearce and
Lauren Vickery before No. 1 pair
Kristin Gilmour and
Rachel Heilbrun evened things up thanks to a three-set victory (21-23, 21-10, 15-12).
Taylor Gardner and
Karla Sanchez George gave HCU a 2-1 advantage with win in three sets (15-21, 21-14, 15-9) on Court 5 but SJSU came back to earn the next point (15-21, 21-17, 15-11) at the fours over
Alexa Landmark and
Tatum Lockhardt. The deciding point came on Court 2 with
Paige Palmer and
Alisia Silverthorn falling in two closely played sets (21-19, 22-20).
The win by Gilmour and Heilbrun moves them to 21-11 for the season for the third-most single-season wins in program history. Additionally, the duo now has 36 career wins which ranks third all-time in program history.
