(Photo courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)
A week after going 3-1 at the Long Beach State Tournament, the No. 11 Arizona State beach volleyball team traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, for the Fight in the Fort tournament, hosted by TCU.
The tournament saw the Sand Devils go 3-1, as ASU picked up both their program-best sixth and seventh ranked wins of the season.
On the first day of the tournament, the Devils took home wins against Florida Gulf Coast and No. 14 Washington. On day two, ASU defeated No. 13 Florida International before falling to No. 4 TCU.
The Devils’ No. 2 pair, sophomore Arden Besecker and freshman Ava Williamson went undefeated over the weekend, extending their win streak to nine straight duals. This ties the record set in 2019 by Oluoma Okaro and Ashley Wenz. The pair now sits at ninth in ASU history for the single season pairs record.
ASU’s No. 3 pair, senior Taryn Ames and graduate student Lexi Sweeney, and No. 4 pair, redshirt sophomore Ava Kirunchyk and sophomore Carys Thomas, each went 3-1 on the weekend, with Ames and Sweeney losing to TCU and Kirunchyk and Thomas losing to Washington.
The struggles continued this weekend for ASU’s No. 1 pair, sophomore Daniella Kensinger and junior Anya Pemberton. After going 2-2 at the LBSU tournament, Kensinger and Pemberton only won one dual in Texas, when they took down Washington’s top pair.
The duo lost in three sets to FGCU’s No. 1 pair, graduate student Shelby Beisner and senior Trinity Rosales, lost in three sets to FIU’s top pair, senior Giada Bianchi and graduate student Reka Orsi Toth, while getting swept by TCU’s top pair, junior Hailey Hamlett and sophomore Anhelina Khmil.
Kensinger and Pemberton now have eight losses, six of which are against ranked teams, while the Devils as a whole only have four losses, all of which have come against ranked teams.
Next weekend, the Devils will stay in Arizona for the Lopes Invitational, taking on Stetson and host Grand Canyon on Saturday, Mar. 30.
