May 17, 2010
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Former Lions Emily Day (2005-08) and Heather Hughes (2004-07) reunited in the sand on May 2 to win the 2010 College Beach Volleyball Championship at West Beach in Santa Barbara, Calif.
The duo made history in 2007 when they became the lowest-seeded team to advance from the qualifier to an AVP event. Nowadays, Hughes has been serving as a member of the USA National Team, while Day has been playing overseas in Europe and on the AVP tour with other partners.
Hughes and Day beat out 11 other squads from eight different conferences for the crown in a double-elimination round-robin competition. The two defeated Concordia (15-7,16-14) before squaring-off against Delaware in the first of what would be two matches between the two teams. Day and Hughes defeated Delaware in three, 15-10, 13-15, 15-3, on Saturday. After the test against Delaware, the Lions faced Webber International, a school that made sand volleyball a varsity sport last year. Webber International could not halt the Lion momentum, as Hughes and Day won in two sets (21-9, 21-8). In the finals, the LMU squad saw Delaware, which won-out in the `Contenders' bracket after the loss to LMU, for the second time. LMU needed just two sets in the Championship match, defeating Delaware 21-16, 21-19.
Day, who earned a spot on Collegiate Volleyball Update's Stellar Spiker Honorable Mention team after her senior year, was named first team All-West Coast Conference twice as a Lion. One of just seven members in the 1,000 career dig/1,000 career kills club, she finished her LMU career ranked third all-time in digs (1,181), fourth in total attacks (4,171) and kills (1,521), sixth in kill average (3.61) and sets played (421), eighth in aces (116), and 10th in solo blocks (70) and dig average (2.81).
Hughes garnered AVCA All-Region honorable mention and first team All-WCC honors as a senior, marking the third straight year she was listed on the first team. After beginning her stint with USA Volleyball, Hughes was named to Collegiate Volleyball Update's Stellar Spikers honorable mention list. Hughes' name was heavily stamped in the LMU record books after her illustrious four-year career, as she has claimed the top spot in aces (157), second in kills (1,679), digs (1,261) and total attacks (4,435), fourth in games played (438) and kills-per-game (3.83), seventh in service aces-per-game (0.36) and ninth in digs-per-game (2.88).
The 2010 Lions will open their season on August 21 with the annual Alumnae Match in Gersten Pavilion. The regular season is slated to begin on August 27 when the Lions head across town to participate in a tournament at USC.
