As the college beach volleyball season started on Feb. 20, a handful of Leon County alumni competed in two tournaments in Tallahassee hosted by FSU during the first two weeks of the NCAA Division I season. The Seminoles, preseason ranked #8, started the season off hosting the Unconquered Invitational on Feb. 20th and followed it up by hosting the Seminole Beach Bash starting Feb. 27th.
Four Leon County beach volleyball alumni participated in the two tournaments including North Alabama’s (UNA) Gaby Harnden (Fr.), South Florida’s (USF) Kate Stewart (Fr.), and Florida State’s (FSU) Kenzie Hultquist (RS-SO.) and Jordan Boulware (RS-SO.).
Unconquered Invitational
On Feb. 20, FSU hosted multiple schools including North Alabama (UNA), Alabama Birmingham (UAB), California State Bakersfield (CSUB), Georgia State (GSU), and Southeastern Louisiana (SLU). Chiles alum Gaby Harnden played in the fifth position alongside partner Brooke Bolden against SLU’s Carley Petty and Emmaleigh Vincent. Harnden and Bolden won the first set 21–18 and held on through extra points in the second, securing a 26–24 victory over SLU’s No. 5 pair. The win marked Harnden’s first as a college beach volleyball player and helped seal a 5–0 team victory over SLU.
Seminole Beach Bash
On Feb. 27th and Feb. 28th, FSU hosted their second home tournament of the season which included TCU, USF, UNF, FGCU, Tampa, FAU, and UNC Wilmington.
Community Leadership Academy (CLA) alumni Jordan Boulware and Florida High alumni Kenzie Hultquist both played matches during the Seminole Beach Bash helping the Seminoles finish the weekend with a tournament record of 3-1. Boulware went 3-0 at the second position with partner Audrey Rothman against UNC Wilmington, UNF, and TCU. Boulware and Rothman beat UNC Wilmington in straight sets with set scores of 21-19 and 21-18. They also beat UNF’s Presley Murray and Kenzie Murphy in straight sets with set scores of 21-17 and 21-16.
In the last and toughest match of the tournament for the Seminoles, they matched up against the 2025 reigning national champions, TCU. Boulware and Rothman played TCU’s Natalie Glenn and Sofia Izuzquiza in a tight match going three sets. FSU won the first set convincingly 21-14 then lost the second set 19-21 to force a third. Boulware and Rothman held on in the third set to beat TCU 15-11 and gain the second point of the dual for FSU. TCU ended up winning the dual, 3-2, as they captured the third, fourth and fifth positions.
Kenzie Hultquist had a record of 1-0 at the Seminole Beach Bash with a win over UNC Wilmington at the fourth position. Hultquist and partner Kyleene Filimaua took the first set off of the Seahawks with a score of 21-12 and finished the match with a second set score of 21-19, helping the Seminoles win the dual 5-0.
Chiles alumni and USF Freshman Kate Stewart competed in four matches during the Seminole Beach Bash and finished the tournament with a record of 2-1-1. Due to bad weather, the first two matches of the tournament were played to decision, meaning once a team won 3 out of the 5 matches the other two matches did not get to finish. During the first match against FGCU, Stewart and her partner Alyx Zapatka were stopped before finishing but were up 5-4 in the third set against FGCU’s Kristina Gluc and Vanessa Moriarty at the fifth position. USF went on to lose to FGCU 3-0. The Bulls bounced back against Tampa as Stewart and Teresa Lajkebová beat Tampa’s five’s pair with set scores of 21-14 and 21-13. USF finished the tournament against No. 16 UNF where Stewart and Lajkebová beat UNF in straight sets 21-8 and 21-12 at the fifth position, USF ultimately losing to the Ospreys with a dual score of 3-2 in a tight match.