USC vs Stetson 5-3-2019 BVB

This is the game day post USC put on their Instagram for their game against Stetson featuring 6'1 junior Joy Dennis. Don't forget to follow the USC beach team on Instagram for their 2020 season: @uscbeach

This is the game day post Stetson put on their Instagram for the big game against USC. Don't forget to follow them on Instagram for their 2020 season: @stetsonbeachvb

Dear Readers~


On Friday, May 3, 2019 Day 1 of the 2019 NCAA women's beach volleyball national championship tournament was held. For those that read my previous blog, you'll know that 8 teams advanced to the national finals down in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Those teams include #1 USC, #2 UCLA, #3 Florida State, #4 Pepperdine, #5 LSU, #6 Cal Poly, #7 Hawaii, and #8 Stetson. The game this blog will be about will be USC taking on Stetson, since I covered USC in my previous blog on men's indoor volleyball when they took on Lewis in the quarterfinals of the men's national championship at Long Beach State. Now it's time to get into the game between #1 USC and #8 Stetson in Gulf Shores for the start of the tournament.

The first team to finish were the 1's. This had Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina, of USC, take on Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Carly Perales, of Stetson. The first set ended at 21-17 with Abril and Tina taking that set. The second set ended at 21-12 with Abril and Tina taking that set as well and putting USC up 1 set to none against Stetson.

The second team to finish were the 3's. This had Haley Hallgren and Alexandra Poletto, of USC, take on Ana Costa and Rachel Noble, of Stetson. The first set ended at 21-19 with Ana and Rachel taking the first set. The second set ended similar at 21-17 with Ana and Rachel taking that set for Stetson. Now it's all tied up at 1 game each for USC an Stetson.

The third team to finish were the 2's. This game had Terese Cannon and Sammy Slater, for USC, take on Darby Dunn and Sammee Thomas, for Stetson. The first set ended at 21-19 with Darby and Sammee taking that set for Stetson. The second set ended at 21-18 with Darby and Sammee taking that set for Stetson as well and beating USC in both sets as well as giving Stetson a 2-1 lead over USC.

The fourth team to finish were the 5's. This match up had Cammie Dorn and Mollie Ebertin, of USC, take on Quinci Birker and Rebecca Ingram, of Stetson. The first set ended at 21-16 with Quinci and Rebecca taking that set for Stetson. The second  set ended at 21-11 with Quinci and Rebecca taking that set as well and beating USC 3 games to 1.

The last game was the 4's. This match up had Joy Dennis and Maja Kaiser, of USC, taking on Samantha Harris and Julie Varga, of Stetson. The first set ended at 21-19 with Samantha and Julie taking that set. The second set got to 19-17 with Joy and Maja in the lead for USC before it was suspended. This game was suspended because a school only needs to win 3 of the 5 matches and that was when Stetson won it's third match to put USC in the contender's bracket.

Stetson put this on their Instagram after beating USC 3 sets to 1

With #8 Stetson taking out a #1 USC, Stetson went on to play #5 LSU in the winner's bracket while USC goes to play #4 Pepperdine in the contender's bracket. That concludes my blog covering the first duel of the 2019 NCAA women's beach volleyball championships with USC taking on Stetson. Don't forget to mark your calendars for May 17-19, 2019 when stop #2 of the 2019 AVP season reaches Austin, Texas. Until next time, Miller out


~J. Miller