CLEARWATER, Florida – UTEP beach volleyball split its opening day at the Stampede Beach Opener on Friday, sweeping Sam Houston, 5-0, before falling to host South Florida, 4-1 at Clearwater Beach.
With the results, the Miners move to 6-12 overall and 3-3 in Conference USA play. UTEP's top pair of Paulina Acuna and Madison Hill paced the effort, going undefeated on the day to improve to 9-9 on the season.
DUAL 1 UTEP 5, SHSU 0
The Miners struck first on court four, before taking a 2-0 lead with a hard-fought three-set victory on court two. UTEP clinched the dual on court three behind a decisive straight-set win by Krista Paegle and Averie Threet. The Orange and Blue added two more straight-set victories from courts five and one to complete the 5-0 shutout.
Results (order of finish: 4, 2, 3*, 5, 1)
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Acuna/Hill (UTEP) def. Panekov/Lockhardt (SHSU) 28-26, 21-18
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Kennedy Llewellyn/Mila Popovic (UTEP) def. Higgins/Smith (SHSU) 23-21, 17-21, 16-14
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Paegle/Threet (UTEP) def. Rink/Stephenson (SHSU) 21-10, 21-14
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Alexa Gonzalez Monreal/Adriana Oporto (UTEP) def. Quezada/Folse (SHSU) 21-13, 21-14
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Evelina Krieva/Mia Theisler (UTEP) def. Masiero/Chuong (SHSU) 21-17, 21-12
DUAL 2 USF 4, UTEP 1
South Florida jumped out early with wins on courts two and four to take a 2-0 lead. The Miners answered on court one, as Acuna and Hill battled back for a three-set victory to put UTEP on the board. The Bulls clinched the match with a straight-set win on court five, then added the final point on court three, snapping Paegle and Threet's 6-match win streak.
Results (order of finish: 2, 4, 1, 5*, 3)
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Acuna/Hill (UTEP) def. Panko/Crudu (USF) 17-21, 21-15, 15-11
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Alemdia/Mitchell (USF) def. Llewellyn/Popovic (UTEP) 21-13, 21-16
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Pasloski/Sek (USF) def. Paegle/Three (UTEP) 21-17, 16-21, 15-11
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Lajkebova/Stewart (USF) def. Monreal/Oporto 27-29, 21-16, 15-9
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Anderson/Zapatka (USF) def. Krieva/Theisler (UTEP) 23-21, 21-19
Up Next
UTEP will continue play at the Stampede Beach Opener on Saturday, March 28. The Miners will take on Conference USA foe UAB at 6 a.m. MDT before facing Stephen F. Austin at 8:30 a.m. MDT.
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