Lions Fall in Inaugural Sand Volleyball Match

March 12, 2012

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Host USC swept Loyola Marymount, 5-0, in the historic first-ever match for both schools in the new NCAA "emerging" sport of women's sand volleyball. The USC duo of Katie Fuller and Natalie Hagglund won the pairs championship on a sunny Saturday (March 10) in front of 500 spectators at Santa Monica's Annenberg Community Beach House.

LMU (0-1) was swept by USC (1-0) in the best of five three-set team matches.

In team play, USC's No. 5 team of Kati Duddridge-Megan Thornberry got the Women of Troy on the board first by beating their LMU counterparts, Amber Mirabello-Jasmine Rankins, 21-8, 21-16. Kendall Bateman-Sam Hirschmann, USC's No. 4 team, followed by defeating Ashley Maxfeldt-Ellie Selleck, 21-15, 21-8. USC's No. 2 squad of Fuller-Hagglund then clinched the team title by beating Caitlin DeWitt-Litara Keil, 21-8, 21-17. Sara Shaw-Geena Urango, the Women of Troy's No. 1 team, next beat Felicia Arriola-Betsi Metter, 21-13, 21-16, and then USC's No. 3 team of Kirby Burnham-Kelly Irvin finished off the Lions by winning 16-21, 21-14, 15-5 over Kenna Crouse-Taylor Scioscia.

Fuller-Hagglund dropped into USC's No. 3-seeded slot during the pairs play and beat DeWitt-Keil, 21-11, 21-15, in quarterfinal action and then upset the top-seeded Trojan team of Shaw-Urango, 23-21, 22-20, in the semifinals. In the all-USC championship match, Fuller-Hagglund defeated Burnham-Irvin, who were playing up in USC's No. 2 spot, 21-12, 21-18.

LMU returns to action on March 13 when it travels to Long Beach State for a match at 2 p.m.

- GO LIONS -

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