FORT WORTH (gofrogs.com)– Ana Vergara and Sutton MacTavish took silver at the first ever AVCA Pairs Championship this weekend in Huntsville, Ala. Teammates Daniela Alvarez and Anhelina Khmil took third in the 17th bracket.
"We had a really good showing a couple weeks ago at the West Coast Championships by getting a team all the way to the final and now, here at Huntsville, getting another team all the way to the final," head coach Hector Gutierrez said. "We are really happy, of course, and we are showing that we are going to have really competitive team this year. It's a bummer to lose two finals in a row, but it just means that our players can compete with anyone in this country. We are really excited, and I think they are doing a really good job during this preseason."
The Rundown
Friday featured pool play which would determine the seeding for the single elimination Pairs Championship on Saturday.
Vergara and MacTavish won their pool 3-0. The duo took victories over FGCU (21-12, 18-21, 15-9), Georgia State (21-12, 21-10) and Stanford (21-18, 21-13).
Alvarez and Khmil also won their pool 3-0. The duo took straight set victories over Arizona State (21-13, 21-9), LMU (21-11, 21-11) and Arizona (21-13, 21-14).
To open Saturday, Alvarez and Khmil fell to USC in two close sets (19-21, 22-24). Their loss to the Trojans placed them in the 17th bracket for the remainder of the tournament. The pairing started out strong, taking straight set victories over Pepperdine (21-13, 21-13) and Cal Poly (21-7, 21-16) before falling to LMU in a close three-setter (27-29, 21-11, 13-15). The pairing finished third in their bracket.
Vergara and MacTavish continued their unbeaten streak into Saturday's set of matches. The pairing took three straight set victories over USC (21-13, 21-16), Cal (21-19, 21-18) and USC (23-21, 21-17) to secure a spot in the semifinals. The duo downed Washington in the semis in straight sets (21-18, 21-14), to secure their spot in the finals. Vergara and MacTavish went toe-to-toe with LSU in the finals of the AVCA Pairs Championship. The pairing fell to the Tigers in a nail-biting three-setter (14-21, 21-19, 11-15) to take silver home for the Horned Frogs.
"Overall, I think that the fall has been really successful for us," Gutierrez said. "We've had two teams in the finals and everyone else is competing at a really high level with good finishes. It has been really good to watch and I'm really proud of them. We are really excited for the spring."
Up Next
The AVCA Pairs Championship concludes fall play for the Horned Frogs. The team will kick off the regular season Feb. 25-26 in Houston at Houston Christian.
The Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) is a progressive NCAA Division I conference dedicated to the enhancement of opportunities for students. The conference was founded in 2008 to provide a championship opportunity for Swimming and Diving student-athletes and extended that opportunity with the addition of Beach Volleyball in the summer of 2015. The league's footprint extends into several states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia. The CCSA is dedicated to the student-athletes who compete in its championships and their success in the classroom, in the field of competition, and life after graduation.