HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – Through all the peaks and valleys, triumphs and challenges the beach volleyball season has presented, the 2024 team emerged as Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament champion for the fourth straight year on Saturday at the Brookhurst and PCH Courts.
The Lions locked in their legacy as a GSAC dynasty with their ninth straight tournament win dating back to 2021. The defending national champions, which won 21 matches in 2023 en route to raising the Red Banner, had a 34-match regular season winning streak against GSAC opponents entering the season.
Which ended in the season opener on February 9 to The Master's.
So this year's squad knew they had a target planted squarely on their back. Add to that a number of new faces and freshly minted pairs, and it appeared that if anyone could unseat the Blue and Gold from GSAC supremacy, this would be the year.
The Lions finished 5-5 in GSAC play, losing to top-ranked OUAZ twice. They barely scraped into the GSAC Tournament field as the fourth and final seed, entering the competition on a program worst seven-match losing streak.
But between the 14 days separating their last regular season match and the tournament opener on Friday, the team made a magical transformation back into its championship pedigree, knocking off No. 1 seed OUAZ by a 4-1 score. The win punched VU's ticket into the NAIA Championship, where the program earned the right to seek a second straight Red Banner.
Emma Galloway, a junior who has competed on the last three GSAC Tournament title teams, reflected on the road the 2024 squad took to maintain their top spot.
"It feels amazing to have all our hard work from this season pay off," said Galloway, who worked alongside Hannah Wilmes as VU's No. 1 pair. "With this being such a new team and group of girls, we have had to push through some setbacks and adversity, but after every game we lost we came together as a team and worked harder in practice each time. It is now paying off!"
What Happened?: The Spirit, which came in with 18 wins as the NAIA's No. 1 team, would not make VU's job easy. The twos pair of Olivia Andersh and Mattea Wilson put the Spirit up 1-0 with a 23-21, 21-14 victory over Madi Nash and Madison Arnold.
Continuing in the first wave of pairs, the theme of perseverance through setbacks shined at the fours. Bailey Coffin and Logan Daniels withstood a first-set loss to pull off the reverse sweep, knocking off Dayana Raygoza and Shea Marovich in an intense 17-21, 21-17, 17-15 battle.
The Coffin-Daniels pairing was 0-8 before winning their last two matches at the GSAC Tournament, a huge reason the team lifted another trophy.
A recently formed partnership between Kortney Hitt and Ana Broadhead resulted in two wins against their OUAZ counterparts at the GSAC Championship. The No. 5 pair overcame a tough set two loss to go the distance against Leah John and Gabriela Corrales, taking a 21-17, 22-24, 15-10 win.
The Lions took a 2-1 lead into the final two matches at the threes and ones. With both contests nearing completion, the threes tandem of Paige Cutwright and Gianna Pecile stuck the winning landing with their 21-16, 21-16 victory over Grace Hughes and Amanda Carlson.
The win was extra sweet for the two VU newcomers, who had gone through several ups and downs over the course of the season. After losing to Hughes and Carlson twice in regular season matchups, Cutwright and Pecile swept the Spirit duo both times in the tournament.
It was only fitting that Galloway and Wilmes put the final touches on the victory, dusting off a lopsided first set loss to prevail against Summer Hanks and Diana Enriquez at the ones. The only VU pair to finish 3-0 for the tournament, Galloway and Wilmes took the 12-21, 22-20, 15-11 victory.
Four-time tournament champions. The Lions pushed through the most competitive version of the GSAC since beginning conference play in 2020. And the Lions did so from the unfamiliar spot of looking up at the rest of the field as the No. 4 seed.
Why Is It Important?: The Lions earned the automatic bid into the 2024 NAIA Beach Volleyball National Invitational in Greeneville, Tenn. The bracket increases from six to eight teams beginning in 2024.
What Was Said?: "Wow. Just wow," exclaimed Head Coach Kris Dorn. "What a showcase of the grit these ladies have earned. The early morning practices before the sun is up, the grinding to push ourselves beyond our current limits. What a weekend to display that! Off to Tennessee we go! So proud of what we just accomplished."
What's Next?: The NAIA Championship runs April 25-27. The Lions will be placed into one of two, four-team pools, playing three matches over two days to determine their spot in the main single-elimination bracket.
