NCAA championship Sunday for beach volleyball is 10 weeks and five time zones away from today’s championship Sunday of the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic.
It would surprise few if the teams playing for the title at Queen’s Beach take Waikiki east to Gulf Shores, Ala., in May. Who will make the postseason tournament is as big of a guess as who will make it to today’s 3 p.m. championship.
Three of the top five nationally ranked teams made a strong case for extended travel after Saturday’s round-robin play. No. 1 UCLA (4-0) remains the team to beat as the two-time defending NCAA champion, but No. 3 LSU (1-2) and No. 5 Hawaii (2-1) look to be legitimate contenders.
>> PHOTOS: UCLA vs. Hawaii
“At the end of the year, you’re going to be challenged, it’s going to be hot, you’re going to play great teams,” LSU coach Russell Brock said. “That’s why we are here. We knew this would be an incredible task and we wanted that early on, to see where we are at, get a real version of where we are at our most challenged state.”
The challenge on Saturday was to be good when it counted, at the end of third sets that would determine the outcome. UCLA did that against Hawaii, the Bruins edging the Rainbow Wahine 3-2 in the morning opener, and the SandBows did the same against the Tigers when pulling out the last dual of the day 3-2.
Sandwiched in between, Hawaii, UCLA and LSU swept No. 19 Stanford 5-0. The Bruins also defeated the Tigers 4-1.
The victory over LSU was a huge win for Hawaii, its first over a top-five team since 2018. It came down to Flight 3, where senior Amy Ozee and junior Brooke Van Sickle, moving over from the Wahine indoor team, rallied past sophomores Kahlee York and Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope, 16-21, 21-12, 15-13.
With the crowd surrounding the court, the SandBows pair led 9-7 in Set 3, only to have the Tigers use kills by Rasnick-Pope, a UH hitting error and a controversial call to go up 11-9. Ozee appeared to get both a touch on her attack and have the ball land just inside the back line. She got neither, but Hawaii coach Jeff Hall did get the first yellow card of his career for extended arguing.
The teams switched sides, with Ozee’s kill and ace, combined with a Tigers hitting error, putting the SandBows back up 12-11. Another kill by Ozee gave Hawaii its first match point at 14-12; the SandBows would need two, getting the 15-13 victory when Rasnick-Pope served long.
“I’m really proud of our team,” said Ozee, paired with Van Sickle for the first time. “It’s very even across the board and everyone is getting their job done.
“I think this is a national championship team. This is a team that’s only going to get better with time.”
Hawaii’s Flight 2 pair of freshman Maia Hannemann and senior Julia Scoles dominated all day, not dropping a set in three matches. The only loss for senior Morgan Martin and sophomore Pani Napoleon at Flight 1 came against UCLA, 25-23, 21-25, 15-11, the outcome clinching the win for the Bruins.
Against UCLA, two other flights went to three sets, with freshmen Ilihia Huddleston and Hanna Hellvig winning at Flight 4 and sophomore Kylin Loker and senior Norene Iosia falling at Flight 5.
“Once again, it came down to one court,” Hall said of the win over LSU and the loss to UCLA. “Against UCLA, we were up 2-1 and gave them too many points on unforced errors. Hopefully we get another chance tomorrow.”
“I think it’s going to be another year of great battles with UH, and we wouldn’t want it any other way,” said Bruins coach Stein Metzger, a Punahou graduate. “Hawaii is good. They’re going to have the most growth of anyone. They have a lot of kids who didn’t train in fall (seven were playing indoor) and they’re going to grow and learn at a faster pace.
“Obviously they’re very talented. They had us right where they wanted us. It could have gone either way.”
For the sixth consecutive time, it went UCLA’s way.
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OUTRIGGER DUKE KAHANAMOKU BEACH CLASSIC
At Queen’s Beach
Today
Semifinals
>> No. 3 LSU (1-2) at No. 5 Hawaii (2-1), 10:30 a.m.
>> No. 1 UCLA (4-0) vs. No. 19 Stanford (0-3), noon
Third place
>> Semifinal losers, 1:30 p.m.
>> Championship, 3 p.m.
