HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. – The CSU Bakersfield sand volleyball team ended the team portion of its inaugural-season schedule with a bang on Saturday, as the Roadrunners defeated Loyola Marymount 3-2 in a close match and CSUB's No. 3 squad of sophomore Molly O'Hagan (Tonganoxie, Kan., Tonganoxie HS) and junior Lisa Bartsch (Wuppertal, Germany, Augusta St.) posted a win over No. 4-ranked USC on Saturday at the USAV Hermosa Beach Collegiate Challenge. The 'Runners fell to USC 4-1 and dropped a match to No. 2 Long Beach State 5-0 to conclude a very busy day in the sand.
CSUB will now wrap up its first-ever season with the tournament's pairs competition, which will be held on Sunday.
CSUB's No. 1 squad of juniors Debora Araujo (Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Western Nebraska CC) and Yuan Fu (Beijing, China, Missouri State-West Plains) posted an amazing three-set, thrilling win over the Lion's top team after dropping the first set. They rallied back to win 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-13). O'Hagan and Bartsch put up a 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) win, while CSUB's No. 2 squad of Mariah Alvidrez (R-So., Bakersfield, Calif., Liberty HS) and Shayna Guitare (Jr., Torrance, Calif., Pierce College) dominated in a 2-0 (21-6, 21-13) win.
“We stared the day with a huge win against a tough LMU team. Debora and Yuan outlasted LMU's No. 1 team in three sets for their hardest-fought win of the year,” said CSUB head coach Aaron Shepardson.
The matched helped CSUB settle the season score after falling to LMU 3-2 earlier this season. CSUB also played USC earlier this season and fell 5-0. On Saturday, O'Hagan and Bartsch pieced together their finest performance of the season to tally one win for the 'Runners.They won the first set 21-11, and after losing the second set 16-21, came back to take the third 15-12 in the 2-1 win.
“I though we also represented ourselves well against the No. 2 and No. 4 teams in the nation in Long Beach State and USC – with Molly and Lisa earning a huge victory over USC's No. 3 team," Shepardson said. "I am very proud of how hard Molly and Lisa worked for this win after several close losses earlier in the year.”
Complete results from CSUB's match against LMU is attached as a PDF to this story. For results from CSUB's match against Long Beach State, click on the photo gallery on the left. Results from the CSUB-USC match are below.
USC 4, CSU Bakersfield 1
1.) Kirby Burnham-Stevi Robinson (USC) def. Mariah Alvidrez-Shayna Guitare (CSUB) 21-17, 21-19
2.) Katie Fuller-Cinnamon Sary (USC) def. Debora Araujo-Yuan Fu (CSUB) 21-13, 21-14
3.) Lisa Bartsch-Molly O'Hagan (CSUB) def. Eve Ettinger-Bria Russ (USC) 21-11, 16-21, 15-12
4.) Kati Duddridge-Brooke Fournier (USC) def. Sara Little-Danika Youngblood (CSUB) 21-15, 21-13
5.) Sam Hirschmann-Natasa Siljkovic (USC) def. Kelsee Sawyer-Star Tucker-Campbell (CSUB) 21-9, 21-7
Order of finish: 2, 4, 5, 1, 3
~www.GoRunners.com~
