Next month, ASU will say a bittersweet goodbye to senior Jordy Checkal and graduate student Bethany Jorgensen. Both women will graduate in May and leave behind the ASU sand volleyball program they helped create.
Being from San Diego, sand volleyball has always been Checkal's passion. She attended the ASU volleyball camp during the summer before her freshman year and head coach Jason Watson offered her a spot on the team shortly after. Checkal came at a time when the team had some great players and depth, so when the news of a sand volleyball program surfaced, she decided to switch to sand.
"We were all for it," head coach Jason Watson said. "I think that's where her passion was, she really liked the sand. She's been this really instrumental player that has enabled us to kind of get sand going here. I think her and Bethany have been perfect in that role of creating something."
Jorgensen on the other hand, growing in Tempe, has been always been a Sun Devil fan. She chose ASU because she wanted to stay in the Valley to stay close to home and allow her family to still come to her matches.
"Her love for the school and certainly her love for volleyball was something we needed," Watson said. "So we brought her on board, and every day that she was in our gym, she just worked incredibly hard, not only to make herself better, but to push her teammates to be better."
Jorgensen graduated last May and at the last minute decided to return to the team for one more year as a graduate student. That made all the difference in Checkal's final season.
After going 2-6 in the first two weekends of the season, Checkal and Jorgensen bounced back and became a dominating duo and were the first pair to ever defeat the USC Trojans at the Pac-12 Invitational in Santa Monica.
"I thought that was really a remarkable win for them, and I was really happy for them, because I know how much it meant to get that win," Watson said.
Overall, Checkal and Jorgensen finished their final season 11-10, tying for the second best record with freshman Halle Harker and junior Whitney Follette.
"We had to lose some games in order to win some games," Checkal said. "I think we learned that it's OK to lose because then when we started winning games, we knew exactly what we had to do."
Both students graduate in May, and the sand volleyball program might not have started or had as much potential without them and their passion for the sand.
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow @katlynewens on Twitter.
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