TAVARES, Fla. – The OUAZ beach volleyball team capped an amazing inaugural season by winning the championship of the AVCA/NAIA Small College Beach Volleyball Championships on Saturday afternoon at Hickory Point Beach. The Spirit added two wins on Saturday, including a 4-1 win over Vanguard in the title bout.
OUAZ – the tournament's No. 1-seed – earned its trip to the championship dual with a 4-1 win over No. 3-seed Webber International on Saturday morning.
Against No. 2-seed Vanguard, the Spirit scored the first two points of the dual behind wins by
Valerie Rodgers and
Mikelle Taylor (21-9, 21-9) in the No. 3 match and then by
Ashleigh Atsaros and
Alyssa Dincoff (21-13, 21-14) in the No. 3 pair.
Vanguard got one point back with a 21-12, 21-18 win in the No. 4 match.
The deciding win came from the No. 1 pair of
Andrea Gonzalez and
Viri Serrano as they claimed a 21-19, 21-18 win to clinch the championship. OUAZ then brought the amazing season to a close when
Jessica Youngberg and
Mariah Clausen won the No. 5 match, 17-21, 21-18, 15-10.
OUAZ finished the weekend in Florida with a 5-0 record to end their inaugural season at 23-4. All four losses came against NCAA Division I teams, including two ranked teams.
