Ozark, MO.- The SBU Women's Beach Volleyball team opened their season on Friday going 1-1. They fell to the University of Missouri State 0-5 and won against Hendrix College 3-2.
 
The first game on Friday was against Missouri State. Despite the Bearcats' best efforts, Missouri State came out very strong, overpowering them for the win. After a challenging match for SBU's #1 team, Chandler Lawrence and Lexie Schauffler fell to their opponents in two sets (12-21, 10-21). Reagan Hoerning and Carlee Lill as the #2 team also struggled in a difficult matchup falling to their opponent in two sets as well (11-21, 14-21). The #3 and #4 teams did start to make a comeback in both their second sets, but couldn't pull through. Ryan Russell and Addi Fanning lost in two sets as the #3 team (13-21, 17-21) and Madison Satterly and Logan Drennan fell in two sets as the #4 team (15-21, 17-21). SBU's #5 team was Dylan Cochran and Briley Bagley, and they also were defeated in two sets (13-21, 15-21).
 
SBU was victorious in their second game on Friday against Hendrix College defeating them 3-2 with every match going to a 3-set thriller. SBU's #1 team fell to their opponents in three very close sets (22-20, 18-21, 12-15). The #2 team won the first set but couldn't bounce back, losing the second and third set (21-13, 15-21, 5-15). However the #3, #4, and #5 teams dominated their games for the overall win. After dropping the first set, the #3 team won the next two to defeat their opponents with a super close third set win (21-23, 21-16, 18-16). Then the #4 team was successful in a very close game winning their third set after dropping the second set (21-17, 19-21, 15-12). Lastly, after losing a close first set, the #5 team easily took the win from Hendrix in the last two sets (16-21, 21-9, 15-6).
 
The Bearcats are back in action on Saturday, February 22 at the Volleyball Beach Ozark Facility in Ozark, MO. They will play Park University at 8:00 am, Lindenwood at 1:00pm, and McKendree University at 3:00 pm.