BATON ROUGE, La. – For the fourth time in the last six years, the University of Tennessee at Martin beach volleyball team earned a pair of victories on its season opener as the Skyhawks dialed up 3-2 triumphs over South Florida and Southeastern Louisiana today.
The UT Martin pairs of Kayla Bryant/Olivia O’Keefe (No. 3) and Sydney Eckhardt/Ryan Rednour (No. 5) both went 2-0 on the day while Dylan Mott/Jenna Vallée (No. 1) and Riley Rushing/Dylan Sulcer (No. 3) picked up match-clinching points.
Bryant/O’Keefe secured a 21-18, 21-12 win against South Florida before Eckhardt/Rednour’s 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 triumph put the Skyhawks on the cusp of victory. Mott/Vallée officially sealed the team’s win with a 21-9, 16-21, 15-13 triumph while UT Martin battled but narrowly fell at No. 2 (Rushing/Sulcer, 21-16, 21-18) and No. 4 (Reagan McGee/Kristin Phillips, 21-18, 21-19).
Against Southeastern Louisiana, Bryant/O’Keefe flexed their muscles for a 21-19, 21-19 victory while Eckhardt/Rednour went the extra distance to outlast their opponents for a 21-18, 17-21, 17-15 win. Rushing/Sulcer clinched the team victory after a commanding 21-14, 21-14 win. Mott/Vallée were barely edged out (18-21, 21-17, 17-15) while McGee/Phillips put up a fight before falling 21-13, 23-21.
The final day of the Tiger Beach Challenge takes place tomorrow as UT Martin takes on No. 10 LSU at 10:30 a.m. before squaring off against Louisiana-Monroe at 1 p.m. at the LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium.