HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (gculopes.com) — The Grand Canyon beach volleyball team wrapped its fall season with a strong showing at the American Volleyball Coaches Association Fall Collegiate Beach Championships on Sunday. Both of the pairs the Lopes sent to the championships placed in the event's top 10.
GCU junior Allison Hansen and senior Abbie Hughes finished on the podium with a third-place finish in a large event field featuring 64 pairs.
The Lopes duo of sophomore Samaya Morin and graduate Dana Roskic logged a 10th-place finish.
"It was such an honor to have two teams competing at the AVCA pairs national championships," Lopes head coach Kristen Rohr said. "And for them to walk away with a third- and 10th-place finish was exciting! It shows that they are able to compete with the top pairs in the country."
Both of GCU's duos began the event's pool play stage with perfect 3-0 marks. Hansen and Hughes took down pairs from Colorado Mesa, Coastal Carolina and Loyola Marymount by scores of 2-0, 2-0 and 2-1. Morin and Roskic ran through their pool with victories over Houston Christian, Alabama-Birmingham and Tampa by scores of 2-0, 2-1 and 2-0.
Earning a bye in the championship bracket, Morin and Roskic won their first match against a pair from Coastal Carolina 2-0 before falling to Stanford 2-0. The duo got sent to the ninth-place bracket where Morin and Roskic defeated pairs from Hawaii and Cal — both by scores of 2-1 — before falling in the ninth-place match to a pair from UCLA to finish 10th in the championships.
Hansen and Hughes also earned a bye in the championship bracket and won matches to duos from Florida International (2-1), UCLA (2-0) and Florida State (2-0) before losing for the first time to an LSU pair (2-0). GCU rebounded with a 2-0 win against a Washington pair to claim third place in the tournament.
"The AVCA and City of Huntsville put on a great event and we loved being a part of it," Rohr said.
GCU will open its spring season in late February.
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.