TAVARES, Fla. – Colorado Mesa suffered a semifinal loss to Tampa, the top-ranked team in the nation, but rebounded for a narrow win over Saint Leo to secure a third-place finish at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships.
Hahni Johnson and
Amanda Ollinger closed out their Maverick careers with a 2-0 day for CMU, providing the Mavs' only win in the 3-1 loss to Tampa and the only win on the top three courts in the 3-2 win over Saint Leo.
This is the third consecutive podium finish in this tournament for the Mavericks, who won the title here two years ago and lost to Tampa in the championship game last year. Tampa was able to defend their title with a win over No. 2 CUI in the 2024 championship game, meaning that alongside the third-ranked Mavericks beating the fourth-ranked Lions, the top four finishers matched their seed line entering the tournament.
Meeting the Spartans for the third consecutive year in the semifinal round or later, Colorado Mesa was unable to overcome the top-ranked Tampa Spartans in the semis. Tampa dominated on the middle courts to clinch the dual.
Madison Brunick and Keely Hamilton combined to beat CMU's No. 2 duo of
Riley Daugherty and
Sierra Hunt 21-14, 21-14. Tampa's sister tandem of Hailey Wolfe and Nevaeh Wolfe beat CMU's
Savannah Ott and
Taylor Scherff 21-17, 21-17 on court three while Cassidy Ehrie and Angel Williams knocked off the Maverick pairing of
Barett Nolan and
Gracyn Spresser 23-21, 21-11 on court four.
Johnson and Ollinger rescued the only point of the match for the Mavericks on court one, beating Tampa's top duo of Payton Brunick and Olivia Margolies 21-14, 21-17. The only three-setter of the dual came on court five, as Tampa's Anna Bayes and
Hailey Peterson won the first set 21-17 but CMU's
Savannah Spitzer and
Sabrina VanDeList won set two 21-19. Spitzer and VanDeList were up 2-1 in the third set when the dual was called after Tampa's third victory.
With the loss, Colorado Mesa fell to the third place match against No. 4 Saint Leo, who lost 3-1 in the other semifinal to No. 2 Concordia University Irvine. Once again, Colorado Mesa came up short on courts two and three, with Daugherty and Hunt falling 21-13, 21-19 and Ott and Scherff losing 21-16, 21-17.
Hahni Johnson and
Amanda Ollinger got their second win of the day on court one, defeating Saint Leo's top pairing of Kayla David and Julia Panko 21-19, 21-17.
Barett Nolan and
Gracyn Spresser rebounded from the morning loss to win on court four, beating Leeann Potter and Brenna Reinhard 21-18, 21-15.
Savannah Spitzer and
Sabrina VanDeList, two more of CMU's graduating seniors, won the final match of their Maverick careers on court five to ensure the third-place finish. Spitzer and VanDeList defeated Saint Leo's Amanda Doherty and Emma Laade 22-20, 21-17 to give CMU a 3-2 victory.
Colorado Mesa ends the season with an 18-12 record, with a 4-2 record at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships. The Mavericks end one win shy of the program record of 19 wins, set last season.
