SMC Brings Home National Bid
Pinehurst NC. The Spartanburg Methodist Pioneers Women’s Beach Volleyball team traveled to the campus of Sandhills Community college for the first Regional 10 Beach tournament for a chance to advance to the National tournament in Traverse Fl. April 20th-22nd.
This tournament would be a take everything the team had to fight to the finish will weather that was close to impossible at times. With an early morning start in the 60’s the first match-up would be Gaston beating Waketech 3-2 in the 8am match that would finish in a downpour to start the day.
The 10am match would give Bryan&Stratton the win over Sandhills 4-1 and as the raining fell two teams have already dropped from the advancing.
Second Round
The second round would open with Richard Bland beating Gaston 5-0. Then the Pioneers would hit the sand as the temperatures continued to drop and the wind would pick up. SMC would matchup against the winner of the 10am match Bryan&Stratton. This would be the 4th match up this season and it was just as close as previous matchups.
Spartanburg Methodist 3 vs. Bryant & Stratton 2
Zuzanna Michalska / Delaney Castro (SMCBVB) def. Isabella De la rosa/ Brianna Macias (B&SBVB) 22-20,17-21,18-16
Tayla Reini/ Joanna Barr (SMCBVB) def. Tori Mills/Raelyn Johnson (B&SBVB) 21-7, 21-13
Kendall Meinders / Aurora Aho (SMCBVB) def. Trinity Rivera/ Kassandra Menard (B&SBVB) 21-13,19-21,15-13
Alexandra Hurtado/ Kaydence Fitz-Gerald (B&SBVB) def. Marrit Preusting / Callie Wzork(SMCBVB) 18-21, 16-21
Elina Harper/ Racquel Talley (SMCBVB) def. Jacamea Britt/ Makayla Willis (B&SBVB) 21-0, 21-0
Final Round
The day came down to the last two matches that would push 3 of the 4 to the National Tournament!
The first match up would put Gaston 3 vs Bryan & Stratton 2 for the first bid going to GASTON.
The last match would close out the season with all the elements coming into play: Wind, Rain, Temperature, and a race against Time as the sun was dropping. The match with low 40’s and sideways rain would come down to the first team to win 3 sets.
Three courts would start play as that rain pounded the sand. All 3 pairs would battle to 3 sets. First in the 4’s pair of Marrit Preusting / Callie Wzorek would finish first dropping the match to 23-21,10-21,11-15. Next to finish was the 2’s pair of Tayla Reini / Tori Barr 21-17,20-22,13-15 dropping there first NJCAA match of the season against the elements.
The final match to finish out would decide if the final two pairs would get to play. Elina Harper/Racquel Talley would keep the first to sets close with scores of 21-19, and 18-21. Leaving everything on the next set to either allow SMC to continue or lose the match. And the pair decided that they wanted to press on!! The match would end with a serving battle against wind and rain that the Pioneers seemed to find their way straight to the finish closing the third set out 15-3.
And play continues:
The final two courts started. The 1’s pair of Zuzanna Michalska / Delaney Castro would be a quick back and forth in the first two sets with dropping the first 16-21 and winning the second 21-13.
Meanwhile on the 3’s court Kendall Meinders / Aurora Aho battled to win the first set 21-13.
Then came the finish. As Kendall Meinders / Aurora Aho go back and forth to tie the 2nd set up 22-22. The match would be called as Zuzanna Michalska / Delaney Castro dropped the 3rd set 10-15 to close out the match and giving Richard Bland the 3-1 win.
Spartanburg Methodist 1 vs. Richard Bland 3
1. Sarah Heath/ Karagyn Durco (RBBVB) def. Zuzanna Michalska / Delaney Castro (SMCBVB) 21-16, 13-21, 10-15
2. Tayla Reini / Tori Barr (SMCBVB) def. Sophia Kaiser/ Jadyn Brown (RBBVB) 21-17, 20-22,13-15
3. Kendall Meinders / Aurora Aho (SMCBVB) vs. Leilani Goggin/ Rylie Harris (RBBVB) 0-0,0-0
4. Morgan Green/ Sydney Phillips (RBBVB) def. Marrit Preusting / Callie Wzorek (SMCBVB) 23-21,10-21,11-15
5. Elina Harper / Racquel Talley (SMCBVB) def. Georgia Alexander/ Marisa Dunnavent(RBBVB) def. 21-19,18-21,15-3
