GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— Top pair
Hahni Johnson and
Amanda Ollinger extended their winning streak to 11 as they led the Colorado Mesa University Maverick beach volleyball team to continued domination of visiting Trinidad State College on Senior Day Saturday at the CMU Beach Courts.
Johnson and Ollinger, two of the Mavericks' six seniors honored after CMU's third straight 5-0 dual win over the Trojans, then won all four of their matches in the afternoon pairs tournament contested between the two teams.
In the dual, Johnson and Ollinger, now 17-1 in all matches this spring, bested TSC's Ellie Ames and Anna Jasinsky, 21-6, 21-5 in the top flight.
The Mavericks also won all five of the other matches, including an extra match win from
Kristine Garcia and
Lizzy Hood, as they defeated the Trojans for the third time in 24 hours after picking up a pair of 5-0 team wins on Friday.
The Mavs then recognized their group of seniors, which also included
Cedar Bellows,
Savannah Ott,
Savannah Spitzer and
Sabrina VanDeList before turning their attention to the pairs tournament.
The Trojans had six pairs while the Mavs fielded ten in a 16-duo single elimination bracket that included single set match-ups for the first three rounds.
The Mavericks would earn all eight quarterfinal spots as Johnson and Ollinger rolled to a 21-8 win over the Trojans' Genesis Casillas and Myrah Abdallah-Boehm in the opening round. CMU's pairs also won the other five match-ups against the Trojans in the opening round while No. 2 pair
Riley Daugherty/
Sierra Hunt and Garcia/Hood both won intra-squad match-ups.
The all-CMU quarterfinal round was quite competitive as all four match-ups were decided by seven points or less with No. 3 pair Spitzer and VanDeList edging
Barett Nolan and
Gracyn Spresser, 24-22 at the bottom of the bracket. They then got by Daughety and Hunt in a slight semifinal upset, 21-16 while Johnson and Ollinger rolled past Ott and
Taylor Scherff, who had played up a spot at No. 4 during the morning dual with TSC, by a 21-10 margin.
In the 3-set final, Spitzer and VanDeList took the opening frame, 21-17 before Johnson and Ollinger cruised to a 21-9 second set win to set up the decisive third set, which they won, 15-10.
The Mavericks won all 24 head-to-head matches and 42 sets with the Trojans throughout the weekend as Daugherty and Hunt defeated Claire Johnson and Sophia Quizon, 21-10, 21-8 at No. 2 in the morning dual.
Spitzer and VanDeList were 21-9, 21-11 winners over their Trojan opponents (Eimaya Medina & Deniz Yileri) at No. 3 while Ott and Scherff posted a 21-9, 22-20 win at No. 4 over Amya Speller and Nikolina Werbick.
Meanwhile,
Cedar Bellows and
Lucy Kaufman defeated Neveah Martinez and Raeann Savage by a dominant 21-4, 21-7 margin in their first official start as a pair on Court 5 as normal No. 4 duo Nolan and Spresser took the morning off.
Garcia and Hood were also 21-15 and 21-8 winners in the extra 6's match.
CMU, 11-3 overall and winners of seven straight duals, will take their winning streak on their annual Spring Break trip to southern California, where they will play six matches in a span of four days, five of which will come against NCAA Division I institutions. The other will come against Division II rival Concordia University Irvine, which finished third, one spot behind the Mavs at last year's AVCA Small College Beach Championships.
The trip will begin with a Wednesday doubleheader at CSUN in Northridge and will also include match-ups with AVCA National Poll No. 10 LMU and poll vote receiver Tulane in the Pacific Coast Highway Invite next weekend.
