COCOA BEACH, Fla. - In its first-ever sand volleyball match, Georgia State lost 4-1 to second-year program Stetson at the Ron Jon Surf Shop Beach-n-Boards Fest. Four of the five matches went to the full three sets.
GSU's No. 1 pair of Lane Carico and Katie Madewell came away with the first win for a Panthers' pair in program history. They defeated Stetson's No. 1 pair by a 21-16, 12-21, 15-8 score. Carico, a graduate student, and Madewell, a junior, are the only upperclassmen competing for GSU in this tournament.
The Panthers' No. 2, 3 and 4 teams all went to three sets, and two lost, 12-15. in the decisive third set.
"This was a great first day for our sand team," head coach Tami Audia said. "We got to experience the true beach scene - wind off the ocean, sun, warm temperatures and great volleyball.
"Each of the girls went into their matches with a game plan, and for the most part, we executed well. That's what you want going into a match like this where you don't have a full scouting report on the opponent.
"This was a big first step in what I forsee as a successful inaugural season."
No. 2 pair Jansen Button and Sara Olivova, both freshmen, won the opening set 21-11, but lost the next two closely-contested sets 18-21 and 12-15.
Georgia State's No. 3 team, freshmen Katelyn Rawls and Milani Pickering, also won their first set 21-15, but then lost the next two by scores of 15-21 and 6-15.
Freshmen Alexis Elmurr and Karlee Kavanaugh dropped their opening set 16-21, but then rallied to win 21-15 in the second. Stetson grabbed a break point in third to win 15-12.
The last pair to play was freshman duo of Nikki Senopoulos and Kaitlynn Hufstetler. They fell to the Hatters in two sets, both by a tight score of 17-21.
In addition, Molly Smestad and Alexis Townsend were able to play an exhibition match against a Stetson team. The Hatters won in two sets.
MATCH 1 RESULTS - STETSON 4, GEORGIA STATE 1
#1 - Carico/Madewell (GSU) def. Melville/Bassett (STET) 12-21, 21-12, 15-9
#2 - Byl/Rygh (STET) def. Button/Olivova (GSU) 11-21, 21-18, 15-12
#3 - Coston/Hoffman (STET) def. Rawls/Pickering (GSU) 17-21, 21-16, 15-6
#4 - Robertson/White (STET) def. Elmurr/Kavanaugh (GSU) 21-16, 15-21, 15-12
#5 - Dierickx/ DiGirolamo (STET) def. Senopoulos/Hufstetler (GSU) 21-17, 21-16
#6 (Exh) Kennedy/Marin (STET) def. Smestad/Townsend (GSU) 22-20, 21-12
EXHIBITION MATCH
After the match with Stetson, Georgia State played an exhibition with Webber International, an NAIA school that started sand volleyball last year.
The Panthers' No. 2 and No. 3 pairs, Button/Olivova and Rawls/Pickering respectively, both won in two sets, but Webber won the other three exhibition pairs at 1, 4 and 5.
SUNDAY
The two-day tournament is being played at Alan Shepherd Park on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Cocoa Beach, just south of the Space Center.
The Panthers will play two matches on Sunday. At 8:30 a.m., Georgia State will take on the Univeristy of North Florida, last year's Atlantic Sun champion. That will be followed by a 2:30 p.m. match against Jacksonville, another team in its second year after a fourth-place finish in the A-Sun.
For a full recap of the day, check back to GeorgiaStateSports.com.
###
