The weekend is usually a time of rest and relaxation, but for the Georgia State sand volleyball team, it turned into a rigorous couple of days.
It was well worth it in the end as the team claimed a victory and Lane Carico and Katie Madewell consumed a title at the Georgia State Sand Invitational.
Saturday consisted mostly of team matches that included the Panthers defeating Louisiana-Monroe by a 4-1 score.
They then faced the AVCA ‘s No. 3 ranked Florida State Seminoles and took a hard 1-4 lose.
In the early evening, everything changed gears as the pairs moved into the bracket rounds.
There were two brackets. The No. 1 and 2 teams of each team played in the gold bracket, which was a double elimination competition. The No. 3, 4, and 5 pairs all played in the silver bracket, which was single elimination.
Carico and Madewell defeated Tulane’s Courtney Liddle and Elysa Jackson with no trouble, winning 21-9, 21-10 to move on to Sunday.
Jansen Button and Sara Olivova had a tough time in the gold bracket. They lost their first match to defeat Tulane’s Sophie Asprey and Cori Martone 19-21, 21-15, 19-17. They were then eliminated by the Seminole’s Jace Pardon and Jeassica McGregor 21-18, 21-11.
After a quick turn around, the tournament resumed Sunday morning.
The Panther’s No. 2 team Milani Pickering and Katelyn Rawls competed in the silver bracket on Sunday facing Florida State’s Mallory Kiley and Sarah Wickstrom.
What ended up being an extremely physical match, the Seminoles were able find the middle gap just enough times to give them a victory winning 25-23, 15-21, 15-9.
“It’s hard to lose, but I feel like me and Milani did really well being together and communicating,” Rawls said. “Our rhythm was very in sync, and when that happens we literal feel like we play an awesome match no matter what happens.”
Carico and Madewell faced Michelle McNamee and Tetiana Sukach from Louisiana-Monroe to start their second day.
The match consisted of long rallies that made players run ragged around the perimeter, but Carico and Madewell were unable to close it out resulting in their fourth lose of the season.
The loss didn’t drain them at all, though.
The pair was able to turn around and win two straight matches to put them in the finals of the gold bracket.
In the finals the pair faced Florida State’s No. 2 pair Julie Brown and Melanie Pavels.
Madewell and Carico both dominated the net blocking Florida State’s attempts kills allowing them to rack up winners. They won the match in straight sets. They are the first winners of the Georgia State Sand Invitational.
“I think we played really consistent today,” Madewell said after winning the final. “We had one loss, but we kinda looked past it and motivated us for the rest of the day.”
Carico and Madewell’s record improved to 15-4. The team’s record is now 6-7.
