The University of Hawaii beach volleyball team’s run in the NCAA tournament ended with a 3-0 semifinal loss to Pepperdine today in Gulf Shores, Ala.

USC later defeated Pepperdine 3-2 in the final of the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship. The fifth-seeded Rainbow Wahine closed the season at 29-7 and third in the nation.

Pepperdine won two of three meetings with UH in the regular season and claimed the first set on four of the five courts in today’s dual.

Pepperdine’s Delaney Knudsen and Madalyn Roh closed out a sweep on Court 1 as did Corinne Quiggle and Brittany Howard on Court 2 to give the Waves a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five format.

The Waves had their first swing for the dual on Court 5, but UH’s Hannah Zalopany and Amy Ozee rallied to win the second set 23-21 to force a third and keep the SandBows alive for the moment.

But the dual was soon decided on Court 4, where Pepperdine’s Anika Wilson and Deahna Kraft dropped the first set to UH’s Carly Kan and Ari Homayun 21-9 but fought back to take the second 21-15. The Waves broke out to a 9-5 lead in the third set and clinched the dual with a 15-9 victory.

UH went 3-2 in the eight-team double-elimination bracket to improve on its fourth-place finish in last year’s inaugural NCAA tournament.