Texas beach volleyball‘s season came to an end Friday when the Longhorns fell 3-2 to UCLA, the Longhorns’ first appearance in the NCAA Championship semifinals in only the program’s third year.
Earlier in the day, the Longhorns beat Loyola Marymount 3-1 in the quarterfinals. The trip to the championship in Gulf Shores, Ala marked a program-best finish and a program-best season record of 28-7.
UCLA opened the match with a 2-0 cushion and the Longhorns stormed back with a a pair of 21-19 victories from Brecht Piersma and Katie Hashman. To stay alive, sisters Anna and Kacka Pavelkova forced a 21-15, 17-21, 15-9 finish to even the series.
The match was decided when Chloe Charles and Karin Zoinercikova pushed the second set before the Bruins came out on top.
In a weekend full of firsts for the Texas program, the Longhorns also earned their first AVCA Collegiate Beach All-American honors with Piersma and Hashman, Texas’ No. 1 pair.