FORT MYERS, Fla. - The College of Southern Idaho completed a successful weekend with a split on the final day of the Battle at the Beach Tournament, falling to Eastern Florida 25-20, 14-25, 25-21, 25-18 before beating 15th-ranked Daytona State 25-14, 25-12, 25-18.
In the opener,
Ava Pond led the Golden Eagles with 12 kills along with four blocks and six digs.
Mina Benucci added 11 kills and seven blocks.
Dalayni Brindley finished with a team-high 28 assists and added five digs. Defensively,
Hazuna Akishige had 18 digs and
Emerson Heatwole finished with eight digs and four service aces.
The second match of the day was all CSI.
Vivian Goto led the way with 12 kills and nine digs. Brindley was solid again with 20 assists and seven digs.
Isabel Smart posted nine kills and three blocks and Benucci added eight kills and five blocks.
"This was a great opening weekend for the Golden Eagles," said CSI Head Coach Andria Harshman. "We executed in key moments, worked through times of adversity and had great team building on and off the court, which helped us grow as a program. We're excited to get back in the gym Monday and go to work in the areas of the game we know we need to improve on, but overall we showed up and competed well here at FSW."
The Golden Eagles finish the tournament with a 2-2 record and will travel to Salt Lake next weekend where they will have a shot at top-ranked Florida Southwestern and Eastern Florida, the two teams they lost to this weekend.
