Gaston College has frustrating day of beach volleyball on Friday

Gaston College's beach volleyball had a frustrating day on Friday in a pair of matches at Catawba College.

After losing 5-0 to the host four-year school, the Rhinos lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to Region 10 rival Wake Tech.

"It was a tough day and not the outcome we wanted," Gaston College coach Rachel Noreika said. "All pairs lost in two sets to Catawba, which is not the way we wanted to follow up last week's dual where we played so competitively with them."

Catawba had edged Gaston College 3-2 last Friday's in the opening day of the Rhinos Invitational in the school's inaugural home event.

In Gaston College's second match on Friday, the pairs of Emma Downey and Liz Jones (21-17, 21-6) and Carli Phillips and Bianca Bowland (21-15, 21-4) took victories by 2-0 sweeps and pairs of Cristina Rotola and Naomi Hilliard (21-23, 26-24, 14-16) and Leilani Nolasco and Cameryn Reavis (18-21, 23-21, 13-15) suffered 2-1 heartbreaking losses.

"Against Wake Tech, the 1's (Rotola/Hilliard) and 5's (Nolasco/Reavis) lost close third sets and the 2's (Jones/Downey) and 4's (Bowland/Phillips) played well and won in two sets," Noreika said. "While I'm pleased with the way the 2's and 4's played against Wake Tech, we still have work to do and need to take better care of the ball, serve tougher and learn how to play more aggressively on offense.
"Several players are working through some nagging injuries and we will spend the next week preparing for our final home game against St. Andrews and the Region 10 Conference Championship on Friday."

Gaston College closes its regular season with Wednesday's 2 p.m. doubleheader against St. Andrews before competing in the Region 10 championships next Friday at the Sandhills Community College courts.