Gulf Shores, AL.- The SBU Beach Volleyball Team traveled to Gulf Shores to compete in the AVCA Small Collegiate Championships. For their first day they went 0-2, falling to Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) and Florida Southern College. This puts them to be 8-14 for the season.
 
Game 1: Texas A&M University-Kingsville (L, 0-3)
The first game of the tournament was a tough matchup for the Bearcats as they played against the 5th overall seed in the tournament. TAMUK only needed to play three of the matches to secure the clinch over SBU. The #3 team with Ryan Russell and Addi Fanning played a hard two sets falling to their opponents (8-21, 11-21). Rory Stanley and Kynzie Lilly for the #4 team almost came back in the second set after a tough first set to force a third, but ultimately fell short (6-21, 18-21). Then the last match played was the #5 team with Logan Drennan and Madison Satterly also struggling in their two-set game (9-21, 14-21). Since TAMUK secured the clinch, the #1 and #2 teams did not play their games.
 
 
Game 2: Florida Southern College (L, 0-3)
In an attempt to bounce back after the first game, the Bearcats battled a lot harder with much closer scores. Starting off for the Bearcats Carlee Lill and Lexie Schauffler competed as the #1 team, playing their first game of the day, but fell in two sets (13-21, 16-21). Then Russell and Fanning for the #3 team put up a battle but fell close in their two set match (15-21, 17-21). Then to secure the win for Florida Southern, Lilly and Stanley dropped their two-set match as well (15-21, 9-21). The #2 and #5 teams did not play their matches since Florida Southern won the first three.
 
The Bearcats will continue their tournament in Gulf Shores as they play two more games tomorrow. At 9:05 they will play Tusculum University and at 11:15 they will play Wingate University. SBU will attempt to get at least one more win for the season, which will make program history for the most wins in a single season.