#7 Florida State at #4 TCU 3-7-2025 BVB

 Dear Readers~

    Welcome to the latest blog covering NCAA Division 1 Beach Volleyball. Last time I covered the matchup between Arizona State and GCU that took place in Tucson, Arizona at the Cactus Classic but this time I'll be covering the matchup between Florida State and TCU (Texas Christian University) as TCU hosts the TCU Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas. This matchup between Florida State and TCU took place on Friday, March 7th in the previously mentioned town of Fort Worth.

    The way the NCAA has their beach volleyball games is by having each school compete against each other using their top 5 pairs numbered 1 through 5 based on how that pair is ranked on their team. The number your pair is at your school tells you the pair number you'll play against from your opponent's school. Like the pros, the first two sets play first team to 21 while the third set plays first to 15. Both sets (all three if applicable) require a 2-point advantage in order to win that set. Going into this matchup, this was both team's second game of the weekend. Florida State first played #13 Texas while TCU played an unranked Boise State to start off this tournament. After their games, Florida State was 10-0 while TCU was 4-3. The reason TCU has fewer games is because the previous weekend, Florida State hosted the Seminole Beach Bash in Tallahassee while TCU didn't compete in a tournament. Prior to this tournament, the last time TCU competed was the last weekend of February when they went to Hawaii's Waikiki Beach to play in the Duke Kahanamoku Classic. Now let's get into the matchup between TCU and Florida State to see who comes out victorious. Will Florida State remain undefeated with TCU being a little rusty after a weekend off or will TCU come back rested up and ready to hand Florida State its first loss of the 2025 season? Let's get into the game to find out.

    The games will be covered in numerical order so up first is the top pair of each team. This matchup puts Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno, of TCU, against Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig, of FSU. Those sets ended 21-16 and 21-13, both in favor of TCU and giving TCU a 1-0 lead over Florida State. Up next is the second ranked pairs of Hailey Hamlett and Maria Gonzalez, of TCU, against Gella Andrew and Maddie Trusty, of Florida State. The first set ended 21-19 in favor of Florida State while the second set ended at 21-18 in favor of TCU, causing a third set. The third set ended at 15-13 in favor of TCU and giving them a 2-0 lead over Florida State. The number three pair of Allanis Navas and Sofia Izuzquiza, for TCU, took on Bailey Higgins and Carra Sasack, of Florida State. Those sets ended at 21-18 and 21-14, both in favor of TCU and giving a 3-0 win over Florida State but let's see how the last two matches went. Next up is the fours which had Ana Vergara and Anhelina Khmil, of TCU, taking on McKenna Flaherty and Myriah Massey, of Florida State. The first set ended at 22-20 (remember that you need a two-point lead to win a set even though the first two sets play first team to 21) for TCU and 21-18 for Florida State in the second, causing a third set. That third set ended 15-11 in favor of TCU and giving them a 4-0 win over Florida State. Now onto the final game, which has Makenna Wolfe and Kenzie Hultquist, for Florida State, against Kaitlyn Bradley and Olivia Clines, for TCU. This last matchup ended 21-17 and 23-21 (don't forget about that two-point rule) both in favor of TCU and giving them a 5-0 sweep over Florida State in Fort Worth.

   

The coaches poll for week 2 of play has Florida State at #7 while host TCU is at #4. Don't forget to give NCAA volleyball a follow over on Instagram to see how the rankings change over the season: @ncaavolleyball

Here is the matchday post Florida State put on their Instagram for the TCU Invitational. Don't forget to give them a follow over on that platform to see how their season unfolds: @fsubeachvolleyball

Here is the match week post TCU put on their Instagram for the tournament they hosted. Don't forget to give them a follow over on their Instagram to see how their season goes: @tcubeachvb

Here is the victory post TCU put on their Instagram after the sweep of Florida State

    For those who don't know, Florida State's head coach is Brooke Niles and one of the assistant coaches is her husband, Nick Lucena. Nick competed for Team USA with Phil Dahlhauser in Rio 2016 and also Tokyo 2020 for those Summer Olympics. The other Florida State assistant coach is actually a writer friend of mine named Travis Mewhirter. Mewhirter is a great writer and a great coach. As someone who is trying to be better at writing, I do ask Mewhirter for advice and have gotten some great tips so if you want to be a better writer yourself, reach out to my friend for all of his wise words of writing wisdom. He is also a great player and coach. For those who don't know, he actually coached Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles for the AVP Manhattan Beach Open in 2024 where the team got second after losing to one of the best teams in the world, Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss. This loss in the finals was actually the only loss Flint and Scoles had for the entire tournament in Manhattan Beach meanwhile Kloth and Nuss went undefeated the whole tournament. With the summer approaching, don't forget to check out these professional players and many others out on the beach competing in the AVP.

    The next tournament for TCU is the FAU (Florida Atlantic University) Beach Invitational where they head to Pompano Beach and Boca Raton, Florida to play teams like USC, Stetson, and the host, FAU. The next tournament for Florida State is East Meets West Invitational in Manhattan Beach, California. That concludes this writing covering the Florida State and TCU matchup in Fort Worth. Stay tuned for the next blog covering more NCAA Division 1 Beach Volleyball and until next time, Miller out

~J. Miller