This morning, Arizona beach volleyball saw their hot streak from their home tournament come to an end as they lost to both No. 2 Pepperdine (4-1) and No. 5 Cal Poly (4-1). The only two players to get wins for Arizona were sophomore Brooke Burling and freshman Jonny Baham. With her performance this weekend, Baham continues to hold the best individual record on the season (20-5).
Pepperdine
Burling and Baham, the only pair to get a point for the ‘Cats on the day, defeated Pepperdine’s Skylar Caputo and Alexis Filippone in a two-set sweep. They won 21-17 in the first set and 21-18 in the second set.
Arizona’s No. 1 pair, Natalie Anselmo and Olivia Macdonald, were shut out in two sets by Pepperdine’s Deahna Kraft and Corinne Quiggle. They lost 21-16 in the first set and 21-11 in the second set. After their loss against the Waves’ No. 1 pair, Anselmo and Macdonald move to 17-8 on the season as a pair.
Arizona’s No. 2 pair, Hailey Devlin and Stephany Purdue, didn’t see much light against Pepperdine’s Brook Bauer and Madalyn Roh. They lost 21-9 in the first set and 21-13 in the first set. Devlin and Purdue went 3-1 as a pair this past weekend at Bear Down Beach, but could not hold on in Malibu this morning.
Cal Poly
The second half of the Malibu doubleheader mirrored the first half with Arizona being shut out against the Mustangs by a score of 4-1. Burling and Baham played as Arizona’s No. 5 pair, getting a win against the Mustang pair Heather Pembroke and Hannah Hubbard. Their match only went into two sets, with the Wildcat tandem winning 21-16 in the first set and 21-18 in the first set.
This season, Burling and Baham have gotten some huge wins for Arizona. In addition to beating No. 2 Pepperdine and No. 5 Cal Poly, they were able to defeat No. 13 Stanford, No. 4 USC, and No. 8 LSU.
Anselmo and Macdonald were not able to squeak out a point for Arizona as they were swept by the Mustangs’ No. 1 ranked pair, Torrey Van Winden and Tiadora Miric. The Wildcat duo lost 21-13 in the first set and 21-17 in the second set. After their second consecutive loss on the day, the top-ranked pair for Arizona moves to 17-9 on the season as a pair.
Arizona has been dealing with a plethora on injuries recently. After suffering from a concussion in the game against LSU on Friday, March 30, junior Mia Mason was not able to compete this morning against the Waves or Mustangs.
In addition, sophomore Olivia Hallaran did not see any action today, so her partner Kacey Nady played with freshman Makenna Martin.
After their 0-2 performance against Pepperdine and Cal Poly in Malibu, the Sand Cats move to 16-10 on the season.
Arizona beach volleyball is back in action Wednesday, April 18 against their state rivals, the Sun Devils, at 6:00 p.m in Tempe, Ariz.
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