At its last home weekend and with the Pac-12 tournament in sight, ASU (5-11) went into this weekend, as the team has all season, hoping to gain more experience on the sand.
"As I've said, we're this work in progress and I feel like we're establishing some good routines and getting better each match," head coach Jason Watson said after Friday night's game. "It's hard to see tonight, but I definitely feel like we're getting better."
The Sun Devils bounced back from their tough loss to Arizona (13-1) Friday night and defeated New Mexico (10-9) 4-1.
Senior Jody Checkal and graduate student Bethany Jorgensen started the Sun Devils' domination off with a two-set win 21-19 and 21-15, and ASU took the 1-0 lead.
The team's No. 4 pair, sophomore Kizzy Willey and freshman Sydney Palmer, weren't able to defeat the Lobos, falling to New Mexico 21-19 and 21-18, for their second loss of the weekend.
With it all tied up 1-1 the No. 1 pair of juniors Macey Gardner and Bianca Arellano pushed ASU ahead 2-1 with two 21-15 wins, which was their only win of the weekend.
The Sun Devils continued to dominate as the No. 3 pair, junior Whitney Follette and freshman Halle Harker, took the sand and fell in the first set but picked themselves up and defeated the Lobos 21-17 and 15-11 in the final two sets, pushing ASU to the 3-1 lead.
Lastly, junior Andi Lowrance and freshman Frances Giedraitis finished off the ASU victory by defeating the Lobos in two sets and ASU winning 4-1.
The rest of the evening was not as easy for the Sun Devils.
Also coming off a loss from Arizona, CSU-Bakersfield (11-8) started the evening off with a loss against Giedraitis and Lowrance 21-14, 21-15, for their second win of the weekend.
Willey and Palmer fought hard against CSU-Bakersfield in three sets, but just couldn't pull out a win and tied it up 1-1. The No. 4 pair this weekend lost all three games and go into the rest of the season 6-9.
Checkal and Jorgensen were able to push the Sun Devils ahead 2-1 defeating the Runners in three sets. They won two games this weekend to finish with a 7-8 record.
CSU-Bakersfield responded by defeating both of ASU's final pairs, Follette/Harker and Gardner/Arellano to walk away with the 3-2 win. Follette and Harker walked away with one win this weekend and now stand 6-9 and Arellano and Gardner pulled out one win, to keep their No. 1 record 9-6.
Arizona went undefeated in the first-ever ASU Sand Volleyball Challenge; CSU-Bakersfield went 2-1, ASU was 1-2, and New Mexico was unable to win one.
Next up, the Sun Devils head to Santa Monica for the Pac-12 Tournament on April 18 and 19.
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow @katlynewens on Twitter.
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