NORTH SALT LAKE CITY, Utah— A day after matching the record, Colorado Mesa University's No. 1 beach volleyball duo of
Hahni Johnson and
Amanda Ollinger set the new Maverick standard for single-season wins as they continuing a sizzling hot run with a pair of Saturday morning victories to lead the Mavericks to a split of the day and the weekend here at the Ute Beach Classic.
Johnson and Ollinger have now won eight straight and 20 of their last 21 overall matches, moving to 26-2, surpassing the former record of 24 that Johnson had set with
Savannah Spitzer last year. Johnson, a senior out of Anchorage, Alaska, also moved into a tie with
Sabrina VanDeList, another current Maverick, for the career wins record of 62 after VanDeList and Spitzer split their No. 5 matches on Saturday.
Saturday's matches were moved indoors to Sandbar and saw Johnson and Ollinger begin the day with a win over Texas A&M-Kingsville's Ryland Pollard and Kalani Vasquez by a 21-18, 21-14 margin to help the Mavs post a 4-1 team win over the Javelinas. The Maverick duo then dispatched of Concordia University Irvine's Kali Uhl and Kelissa Lemoine, 21-15, 21-13 in a tight overall match-up with the Golden Eagles, who prevailed 3-2 thanks in part to a pair of 3-set victories.
The split left the Mavericks with a 14-10 overall record heading into the AVCA Small College Beach Championships in Tavares, Florida, where they could match-up with both opponents once again.
That tournament will run from Apr. 12-14. CMU took second in the NCAA Division II bracket last year after winning the national title in 2022.
The Mavericks are now 2-0 against TAMUK this season.
CUI is now 18-8 on the season and won two out of three regular season match-ups with the Mavs over the last nine days.
CMU had won a 3-2 decision on Friday after CUI had won by a 4-1 margin on Mar. 22 in Malibu, California.
CMUs
Gracyn Spresser and
Barett Nolan also went 2-0 on the day in the No. 4 spot of the Maverick lineup. They claimed a thrilling 22-24, 21-13, 19-17 win over TAMUK's Taylor McCarthy and Liana Huesca as the Mavs went up 2-0 following a more straight forward 21-12, 21-19 win by
Sierra Hunt and
Riley Daugherty at No. 2 in the first wave of action.
Kristine Garcia and
Lizzy Hood were also able to record a dominant 21-18, 21-16 exhibition victory in that wave.
VanDeList and Spitzer then claimed a 21-17, 21-14 win over Meghan Stiefer and Rylie Anderson to clinch the Maverick team victory before Johnson and Ollinger put the Mavs up 4-0 with their record-setting victory.
The Javelinas' then won at No. 3 to finish off the match.
Spresser and Nolan then came back to register a 21-17, 21-16 victory over CUI's Nicole Miller and True McCullough to give the Mavs the early lead before the Golden Eagles answered back with a 21-19, 20-22, 15-11 win at No. 2 over Hunt and Daugherty.
They then scratched out another 21-19, 21-19 win at No. 3 to go up 2-1 before Johnson and Ollinger answered back to level the score, sending the overall decision to the ongoing No. 5 match, which Eva Prewitt and Ashleigh Souza were able to pull out over VanDeList and Spitzer in three set.
The Mavericks were also able to get an exhibition win from
Cedar Bellows and
Lucy Kaufman over the Golden Eagles.
