Gaston College's Maddie Dearing (left) and Naomi Hilliard celebrate during Wednesday's match against Wake Tech, which saw them win both of their pairs matches.

Posted: Mar 13, 2024

Gaston College records first-ever doubleheader sweep on Wednesday

For the first time in Gaston College's brief beach volleyball history, the Rhinos recorded a doubleheader sweep.

Gaston College turned the trick on Wednesday afternoon at its on-campus five-net court by a pair of 3-2 scores over Region 10 rival Wake Tech.

"It was a great day for our first home conference match up," Rhinos coach Rachel Noreika said. "We knew from some of Wake Tech's previous finishes and scores that today was going to be really competitive and I'm happy with both of the wins."

Gaston College (4-12 overall, 2-2 Region 10) got wins from the pairs of Naomi Hilliard and Maddie Dearing, Cristina Rotola and Valentina Rodriguez and Milica Gavric and Millea Styles in the opener. Hilliard-Dearing (21-11, 21-11) and Rotola-Rodriguez (21-18, 21-15) recorded sweeps and Gavric-Styles took a three-set match (17-21, 21-17, 15-8) after dropping the opener.

And the pairs of Hilliard and Dearing, Gavric and Rodriguez and Carli Phillips and Styles in the nightcap. Hilliard-Dearing again won by a sweep as did Gavric-Rodriguez and Phillips-Styles.

Gaston College returns to action with three home matches in two days this weekend. It starts with matchups against Region 10 rivals Sandhills Community College (noon) and Spartanburg Methodist (4 p.m.) oin Friday and concludes with Saturday's noon matchup against Lynchburg College.

"I made some changes to our pairings from the previous two weeks and it seems like a couple of pairs are starting to find their groove," Noreika said. "Today was the first day that Naomi and Maddie played in the No. 1 slot and they both were solid all day. I'm really pleased with their effort and execution.
"Val and Cristina looked good in the first dual at No. 2 as did Millea and Milica at No. 4. The second dual, Milica and Val looked great at No. 3 and so did Carli and Millea at No. 4. Both beat their opponents in straight sets in the second dual. So overall, there were definitely some highlights and as always, things were looking to improve."