BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Following a nearly undefeated weekend during the season-opening Tiger Beach Challenge, the University of Tennessee at Martin beach volleyball pairing of Kayla Bryant and Olivia O’Keefe were recognized with Ohio Valley Conference Pair of the Week honors today.
This award marks the fourth time in O’Keefe’s storied career that she has been recognized with this accolade while it is the first time for Bryant, a redshirt sophomore from Louisville, Ky.
Bryant teamed up with O’Keefe – a graduate out of Scottsdale, Ariz. – to go 3-1 over the weekend with their only setback coming in a third-set tiebreaker to No. 10 LSU. The three victories ranked as a team-high on the Skyhawk squad, who went 2-2 with victories over South Florida and Southeastern Louisiana.
Bryant/O’Keefe pieced together an impressive 21-18, 21-12 triumph in last Friday’s season opener against South Florida. Later that day, the tandem dug deep for a 21-19, 21-19 victory over their counterpart from Southeastern Louisiana.
The following day, the UT Martin duo of Bryant/O’Keefe battled until the end before falling 15-21, 23-21, 12-15 to their opponents from nationally ranked LSU. They recovered for an impressive 21-15, 21-17 triumph over Louisiana-Monroe to round out the tournament.
The Skyhawks are back in the sand this weekend when they take part in The March to May event in Birmingham, Ala. UT Martin is pitted against North Alabama (9:30 a.m.) and Houston Christian (4:30 p.m.) on Friday, March 7 before taking on New Orleans (10 a.m.) and Eastern Kentucky (2 p.m.) on Saturday, March 8.