HAMMOND, La. – The UTEP Beach Volleyball team picked up its second straight win today defeating Southeastern Louisiana, 3-2, at the Southeastern Beach Volleyball Complex.
The Miners return to the sand Friday morning for matches against New Orleans and Nicholls.
Southeastern Sugar Beach Slam (Youngsville, La.)
Friday, March 17
8 a.m. vs New Orleans
2 p.m. vs Nicholls
Saturday, March 18
8 a.m. vs Spring Hill College
10 a.m. vs Houston Christian
^All Times Mountain
"This was great win against a solid team," Associate Head Coach Daniel Foo said. "Across the board, the ladies are starting to figure out how to finish games. After two very tough weekends it was nice to start this road trip off with a win. The energy was great, and it was such a fun win. I am very proud of all the Miners!"
The Lady Lions got on the board on court four with a straight-set win. On court five, Maddie Hill and Marian Ovalle served lights out the first set, in the second set they struggled but bounced back in the third and won, 15-12, to knot the match.
Savannah Marenco and Paulina Acuna grabbed the lead on court three in straight-sets as they were consistent with their side-outs and really put pressure on SLU with their serves. The Lady Lions picked up a win on court one to shifting the deciding match on court two with Krista Paegle and Serena Patterson.
As UTEP trailed in the final set on court two, Patterson and Paegle rallied to pull off a 15-12 comeback victory, clinching the match win, 3-2.
Results (Order of Finish: 4, 5, 3, 1, 2*)
1) Hidalgo/McKinney (SLU) def. Ema Uskokovic/Sara Pustahija (UTEP) 21-11, 22-20
2) Krista Paegle/Serena Patterson (UTEP) def. Wilks/Scuderi (SLU) 21-18, 19-21, 15-12
3) Savannah Marenco/Paulina Acuna (UTEP) def. McGee/Schlotshauer (SLU) 21-15, 21-7
4) Logarbo/Petty (SLU) def. Aaliyah Austin/Deanna Almaguer (UTEP) 21-10, 21-19
5) Madison Hill/Marian Ovalle (UTEP) def. Ward/Lockwood (SLU) 21-11, 16-21, 15-12
Final Thoughts from Coach Wallis
"We are really fired up for UTEP to get on the road in the state of Louisiana and be able to pull off a comeback victory 3-2 against a quality beach volleyball opponent. Jeremy White and Collin Wilson are both really good coaches and have gotten this program up and rolling now in the Southland. This was the first match where all five of our teams competed and played well at a pretty high level in order to earn their three points. All five teams were able to scrap out really closely hard fight losses and victories that were well earned. Our 5's and 3's really were in control of their matches the whole way for their victories. Today was the first time that Daniel and I have seen some real growth from everyone and got a chance to put some tactics and training into work and the Southeastern Louisiana facility was fun to play at. We're going to rest our bodies a little tomorrow and travel to Lafayette play for teams in the next 2 days that are going to challenge Us in different ways and we're looking forward to it. Good step in the right direction for UTEP Beach Volleyball."
For complete coverage of UTEP Beach Volleyball, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @utepbeachvb (Instagram) and @UTEPBeachVB (Twitter) or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com.
