UH All-Americans Tiegs-Cook fall in national sand pairs final
Gulf Shores, AL - May 4th, 2014. Brittany Tiegs ducks to avoid a ball against opponents from USC. Hawaii University players Brittany Tiegs and partner Karissa Cook played against opponents from University of Southern California Sarah Hughes and Kirby Burnham in the finals of the pairs division of the AVCA National Sand Volleyball Championships held in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The USC Trojans beat the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in 2 sets. Photo by Wally Nell
Hawaii’s No. 1 pair of Brittany Tiegs and Karissa Cook lost to USC’s top pair of Kirby Burnham-Sara Hughes in Sunday’s championship match of the AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball Pairs Championship at Gulf Shores, Ala.
The third-seeded Tiegs-Cook, named to the 16-member All-American team earlier Sunday, fell 21-15, 21-13 the fourth-seeded Women of Troy tandem to take second. It was the fourth meeting between the two pairs and included a 2-0 sweep by Tiegs-Cook in Friday’s team portion of the event. The two pairs finished 2-2 in head-to-head play this season.
The UH pair won Sunday’s quarterfinal over Pepperdine’s Lara Dykstra-Becca Strehlow 2-1 and then the semifinal match against second-seeded Aurora Davis of Florida State, 23-25, 21-18, 15-12. The SandBows duo opened Sunday’s play with a 2-0 win over 14th-seeded Delainey Aigner-Sweeney and Bojana Todorovic.
Hawaii’s No. 2 team of Katie Spieler-Nikki Taylor were also named All-Americans. The 12th-seeded pair won its first-round match against Long Beach State’s Tyler Jackson-Janisa Johnson. Spieler-Taylor then were eliminated by Burnham-Hughes 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
