Two pairs for the Sandy Owls traveled to Huntsville, Alabama to play in the AVCA Fall Collegiate Beach Championships. A cold weekend in South Alabama had intense competition, including the two pairs from FAU finishing in the top thirty of the tournament.
The duos were the two seeded combo of Ashleigh Adams and Marketa Svozilova (pictured above, AVCA) and 23rd seed Julie Honzovičová and Kate McLaughlin. Adams and Svozilova claimed their spot in the tournament thanks to their win in the AVCA East Qualifiers while Honzovičová and McLaughlin earned a spot thanks to their TruVolley ranking.
Ashleigh Adams & Marketa Svozilova
Starting the weekend, the pair went 2-0 in pool play. In their first tournament match on Saturday, they beat the Hawaii pairing of Sarah Burton and Caprice Lorenzo, earning the match 2-1. Later on Saturday, the Sandy Owls top duo faced off against Stanford’s duo of Brooke Rockwell and Ruby Sorra. The Cardinal took the match, dropping the FAU pair to the ninth place bracket. There, Adams and Svozilova faced Arizona State’s Daniella Kensinger and Ava Williamson. The Sun Devils’ duo earned the victory. Adams and Svozilova finished the tournament in 13th.
Julie Honzovičová & Kate McLaughlin
The duo’s weekend started 1-1 in pool play which pitted the Sandy Owls pair against GCU’s Karynn Garrow and Adrianna Serrano Ferro. Honzovičová (pictured below, AVCA) and McLaughlin won the match 2-1. The team then faced off against Texas’ Maddison Parmelly and Karin Zolnercikova. The Longhorns duo took the match in a sweep, knocking the duo of Honzovičová and McLaughlin into the 17th place bracket. There, the FAU pairing then fell to the USC pairing of Maya Gessner and Kaileigh Truslow, 2-1. Not able to catch a break, the Florida Atlantic duo matched-up against Washington’s Katarina Pantovic and Lauren Wilcock falling 2-0 to finish the tournament in 29th.
UCLA’s Maggie Boyd and Sally Perez won the title.
The fall season ends there for the Owls. The next time FAU takes on the sand courts they will be playing as a unit. The schedule for the 2025 spring season has not been released yet, but do expect this Sandy Owls squad to face top competition and earn solid victories over top 25 teams.