College of Charleston
Tulane
Cougar Sand Volleyball Performs Well At Siesta Key
4/15/2013 3:48:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
On Friday, Charleston narrowly lost a dual with Tulane, winning with Darcy Dorton/Andi Zbojniewicz in the two's (16-21, 21-14, 15-8) and with Catey Warren and Emily Shelton in the five's (21-19, 21-10), but narrowly falling in the other three matchups to lose the dual 3-2.
In action on Saturday and Sunday, the Cougars split up their pairs to compete in several different tournament groupings. CofC's one's and two's went into pool play against other top pairs from schools that already sponsor sand volleyball.
Melissa Morello and Lizzie Theesfeld took wins against Florida Gulf Coast and FAU before losing to Georgia State's top pair (21-17, 15-21, 13-15) to finish second in pool play. Dorton and Zbojniewicz also went 2-1 in their pool play to finish second, taking wins over FAU and Jacksonville but losing to UNF.
The finishes from both pairs put them in the gold division for Sunday's championship, where Morello/Theesfeld lost to JU's top pair (17-21, 18-21) and Dorton/Zbojniewicz lost to GSU's top pair (14-21, 14-21). Both groups ended up finishing tied for ninth in the gold division.
The rest of the CofC groupings competed in the 106-pair Fiesta on Siesta tournament which featured a mix of teams from around the country.
Kelly Kolich and Emily Neideffer swept their pool play to earn a bye in the gold division quarterfinals. However, they then lost to Florida State (18-25) to place ninth overall in their division.
Warren and Shelton placed second in their pool with wins over Stetson and UNF, and they went on to place fifth in the silver division with a 1-1 mark in the elimination segment.
Sloane White and Taeler Davis finished third in their pool, but went on to win all four matches in the bronze division to take first place.
Kallie McKown and Grace Rebarchak found similar success in their elimination tournament as they swept five matches, including a win over UNF, to win the copper division.
Freshman Kari Fidelholtz paired with a Florida State player, due to an uneven number of players, and they went on to compete in the gold division and place 17th overall.
On Sunday, pairings from the Fiesta on Siesta tournament were shuttled into the Fun in the Sun competition.
Kolich and Neideffer placed fifth in the top division of Sunday's tournament, defeating UNF (25-21) before falling to FSU (19-25).
Davis and White placed third in the second division, defeating UNF (25-21) and losing to Florida State (19-15), while Warren and Shelton also placed third with a win over FIU (25-21) and a loss to Florida Gulf Coast (25-27).
College of Charleston will conclude the regular season next weekend in Tallahassee, Fla., when the Cougars compete against Florida State, UAB and Georgia State in the FSU Tournament.
