Gaston College beach volleyball drops season-opening matches on Tuesday

The Gaston College beach volleyball season opened on Tuesday with a 3-2 loss and 5-0 loss to four-year Saint Andrews University.

The pairs of freshman Valentina Rodriguez and sophomore Cristina Rotola and sophomore Naomi Hilliard and freshman Maddie Dearing took three-set victories in the opening match at Pairs Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

Unfortunately, those were the Rhinos' only victories though Hilliard and Dearing suffered a three-set loss in Pair No. 2 in the second match as well.

"I'm obviously happy to get this season kicked off, even with a disappointing result," Gaston College Rachel Noreika said. "After competing really well against them in the fall, I expected to get at least one win yesterday, but we just fell short. Between first game nerves and a fair amount of wind in the first match, we came up just short of the win."

Other Gaston College competitors were sophomores Ayden Main and Bianca Bowland at Pair No. 3, sophomore Carli Phillips and freshman Milica Gavric at Pair No. 4 and sophomores Leilani Nolasco and Millea Styles at Pair No. 5.

"It looked like we ran out of gas in the second match as we actually performed worse than we did in the first," Noreika said. "Figuring out how to fuel properly for a double header or an all day tournament and learning how to sustain a more aggressive level of play over multiple games is part of the process we are in and I'm hopeful we will improve."

Gaston College returns to action on Feb. 23 with a noon doubleheader in the Rhinos' Region 10 openers at Richard Bland College.