Beach volleyball took to the courts again on March 19 for a doubleheader in Monterrey, Calif. and had impressive doubleheader wins over San Jose State and Santa Clara.
They started out the day with a rematch against San Jose State, a team the ‘Cats swept on Feb. 24 in the Cactus Classic at Bear Down Beach in Tucson, Ariz.
Similar to their game at home, the ‘Cats had an exemplary performance against the Spartans, winning their match by a score of 4-1, led by the two-set sweep by senior Olivia Macdonald and sophomore Natalie Anselmo.
The Wildcat tandem beat the Spartan duo, Nandyala Gama and Lyndi Scholl, 21-9 in the first set and 21-15 in the second set. After their game against SJSU, UA’s top-ranked pair holds a 10-1 record on the season, with the only lose coming against nationally-ranked Cal Poly’s highest-seeded pair earlier this year.
Junior Mia Mason and freshman Makenna Martin also stepped up for the Sandcats in their long match against SJSU’s Breanna Robinson and Luiza Andrade. The match went into three sets, after the teams split the first two sets. The Wildcat tandem took the first set (21-19), but the Spartan duo squeaked by the ‘Cats with a 28-26 win in the second set. In the final and decisive set, Mason and Martin dominated for the ‘Cats with a score of 15-10 to make the overall score 4-1 in favor of Arizona.
For the ‘Cats, their only loss against the Spartans came from the No. 2 pair, Olivia Hallaran and Kacey Nady. Their match against SJSU’s Julia Golbeck and Ciara Reistad went into three sets, where the Spartans came out victorious. The Spartan duo took the first set by a score of 21-15, but Hallaran and Nady won the second set by a score of 21-8. In the decisive set, Golbeck and Reistad managed to get a 19-17 win against the Wildcat tandem.
In the latter half of the doubleheader, the Sandcats tallied their fifth sweep of the season, dominating the Santa Clara Broncos by a score of 5-0.
The senior duo Hailey Devlin and Stephany Purdue helped the Wildcats sweep the Broncos with a three-set victory against Santa Clara’s Erin Reineking and Michelle Gajdka. After splitting the first two sets (13-21 and 21-16), the experienced Wildcat pair crushed the Broncos by a score of 15-6 in the third and final set.
After their victory against the Spartans and Broncos, the Wildcats finished 3-1 on their second California road trip of the season to bring their overall record to 9-3.
The ‘Cats square off next against the UCLA Bruins to start the Pac-12 South Invitation on Saturday, March 24 at 11am MST in Santa Monica, Calif. The invitation will run from March 24 -25 and Arizona will play a total of four matches.
