Huntington Beach, Calif.- Arizona Christian Beach Volleyball battled through a tough slate on day one of the GSAC Jamboree hosted at Huntington Beach State Park, earning a split against a pair of top-five NAIA opponents.

The Firestorm opened the day with a gritty 3-2 comeback win over No. 5 Hope International. After dropping the first two pairs, ACU rallied behind wins at the 5s, 3s, and 1s to secure the dual. Pairs 3 (Alyssa Robles/Abigail Nelson) and 5 (Kapri Espinosa/Lilly Petersen) won in straight sets, while the 1s (Emily Casner/Emee Fellens) clinched the match in a three-set thriller.

In the afternoon, ACU fell 3-2 to No. 3 The Master's in another tightly contested matchup. The Firestorm again dropped the first two courts before responding with wins at the 1s (Casner/Fellens) and 3s (Robles/Nelson). The dual ultimately came down to the 5s, where ACU came up just short in a decisive third set.  Actual match scores v TMU are not available at the time of writing.

ACU continues play in Huntington Beach on Thursday as they will play La Sierra at 9:00 am.