HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – The regular season GSAC Champion Vanguard Lions (9-7) served host to Ottawa University – Arizona (9-3) for the inaugural Conference Tournament Championship. After falling behind 0-2, the Blue and Gold rallied to capture a clean sweep of the GSAC crowns in 2021.
What Happened? After honoring a combined 11 seniors from both squads and the nine present members of the All-Conference team, action began with Pairs Two and Four. Playing up a flight due to injuries, Mackenzie Mitchell (SR/Costa Mesa, CA) and Kenzie Bouse (SR/Willard, MO) fell by 21-15,21-14 scores to Brittany Western and Andrea Edwards. After winning the first set 21-19, Kayla Tinker (SR/San Clemente, CA) and Carly McKinney (SR/Mission Viejo, CA) ended up being knocked off 22-20,15-11 as the Spirit took a commanding 2-0 lead.
With their backs against the wall and need to sweep all three duals in the second half of the match, Court Three began to quickly shake out. Vashti Elias Romero (SO/Redlands, CA) and Sydney Irwin (SO/Moorpark, CA) captured impressive wins by counts of 21-8,21-15 over Noel Chavarria and Isabel Mason. Court Five saw Cambria Fernandez and Kynzey Mitzel hit the sand for their first competition after just one day of practice each. After shocking Mia Lara and Claire Nenninger in the first set 21-19, it proved to be no fluke as the duo secure the second set 21-18.
Once the match became tied, both teams and their fans crowded around Court One as it was heading to a decisive third set with the GSAC Championship on the line. The Lions jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but OUAZ knotted it 8-8. With an air of tension on the beach, Conley Harris (JR/Brea, CA) and Natalie Escher (JR/Redlands, CA) squared off against Viri Serrano and Katelyn Viray for the race to seven more points. From the point of the tie, the Pride recorded seven of the next 10 tallies to secure the title.
Why It's Important? The Lions will forever go down in history as the first GSAC Champions for both regular season and tournament titles. In program history, the teams are deadlocked 3-3 with Vanguard winning all three meetings this season – all in a three sets to two fashion. Today's win gives the Blue and Gold a 9-0 record against NAIA competition this season and 29-4 over the last four years.
What They Said: Conley Harris – "I'm just so proud of this team; we work really hard. Practice every day at six in the morning and so we've just really put in so much time and effort. We're really thankful for our coaches and how much time they've put into us and how much they've invested in us. We are obviously thankful to God for the win and being able to play today it's such a beautiful beach." Kayla Tinker - "Ottawa always shows up ready to compete so just to come back and get that win as a team was awesome and just yeah all glory to God. Love this team and it couldn't have happened without a total team effort."
What's Next: Vanguard will travel to Tavares, Florida for the AVCA Small School Championships from April 16-18
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