Photo courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics
Arizona State beach volleyball goes into the weekend in Tucson for the Cactus Classic following a scorching 4-0 opening weekend at Grand Canyon University in the Canyon Classic.
ASU is No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll standings which is the highest rank in the program’s history. This is a jump up from the No. 11 rank the squad earned in preseason.
The Sand Devils won 5-0 against UC Davis at GCU on Feb. 20. There was only one set that resulted in a loss for that morning with the rest of the pairs going undefeated.
The story of the weekend came with the big matchup where ASU had a rematch against TCU. This matchup was a Big 12 Championship rematch, after eventual NCAA tournament champions TCU defeated the Sand Devils.
The Sand Devils continued their dominance from the UC Davis game, by going 4-1 against No. 5 TCU. Four of the five matches against TCU went to three sets but ASU came on top at the end of the day.
On Feb. 21, it was a clean sweep for ASU with wins against Colorado Mesa and No. 13 GCU.
Against Colorado Mesa, each pair won their matches with no mercy in mind. All five of the matches were won in the second set. ASU took care of business and went 5-0 in that morning.
In their first away matchup of the season, the Sand Devils ended the day with another 5-0 sweep against GCU. Three of the five matches went to a third set while once again ASU took the 15 points in order to win both matches.
Pairs to watch in Tuscon
The duo of junior Olivia McElroy and senior Kendall Whitmarsh were named the season’s first Big 12 Pair of the Week. This feat marks the fourth time a duo won this achievement in Sand Devils’ history. They went a perfect 4-0 as a pair in court five, with only one match going to three sets.
Another pair to watch is junior Kristen Gilmour and senior McKenna Flaherty. This duo went 4-0, with highlight wins over TCU and GCU. In both matches, they took the first set, before dropping the second set to capture the victory.
Flaherty made her Sun Devil debut against UC Davis. Prior to the Canyon Classic, Flaherty’s last appearance on the sand was with Florida State in the second round of last year’s NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship Tournament in a loss to UCLA.
Sophomore Zoë Taylor and senior Arden Besecker swept their Canyon Classic matches. They only won one match in the second set, coming in a 21-8 victory over Colorado Mesa.
The pair of senior Daniella Kensinger and graduate Reagan Hope went 3-1 in court two. The loss came at the hands of TCU where they lost in three sets, however the three other matches were clean 2-0 match victories.
Court one was where redshirt senior Samaya Morin and redshirt senior Ava Kirunchyk had a clean 4-0 sweep winning all of their matches in two sets. They finished the Canyon Classic with a 21-10 match victory against No. 13 GCU.
Cactus Classic Matchups
ASU goes to Tucson Feb. 27 with two ranked matchups on the day. The Sand Devils face No. 19 Georgia State at 9:00 a.m. MST, then No. 20 Arizona at 12:45 p.m. MST.
Georgia State has a 4-1 record and are on a three-game winning streak, while Arizona also has a three-game winning streak, but a 3-1 record.
The Sand Devils will look to continue their winning ways themselves, as they look to continue one of their strongest starts in program history.
