As the season winds down, ASU sand volleyball will host its first-ever tournament, the ASU Sand Volleyball Challenge, beginning Friday.
This tournament, hosted by Red Lion Inn Suites and the PERA Club, will be the team's last weekend at home for the season. Three teams will be traveling to Tempe for games on both Friday and Saturday.
This past indoor season Arizona (10-1) swept ASU (4-8) 2-0 and for many of the players that play both sand and indoor, Friday night will be a rematch. The Sun Devils will take on the Wildcats Friday night following the New Mexico/CSUB game.
Similarly to the indoor season, the toughest match for ASU this weekend is bound to be the Arizona game. The Wildcats have only lost one game, falling to Nebraska 3-2 two weeks ago. It's hard to compare the two this season because they have not played the same teams, but solely looking at records, it should be a challenge for the Sun Devils.
Two weeks ago, the Sun Devils hosted four teams and went 2-2 defeating New Mexico (9-6) and Boise State (3-8) and fell to USC (15-0) and Nebraska (6-2). Saturday morning will be a rematch against the Lobos, who ASU defeated 5-0. Neither team has played since that weekend.
The Sun Devils are set to will finish the weekend against CSU-Bakersfield (9-6), a team that ASU has not played in sand or indoor. CSU-Bakersfield has played more games this year, but both teams fell 5-0 to Stanford (5-3) and defeated TCU (0-11) 0-5, so it should be a fairly even match-up.
As of Thursday, head coach Jason Watson had not decided on all five of the pairs for this weekend's games. But looking at the performances from two weeks ago and the recent consistency of pairs like juniors Bianca Arellano and Macey Gardner and sophomore Kizzy Willey and freshman Sydney Palmer, it's safe to say there will be similar pairs on the courts this weekend.
Watson is pleased with how the season is going and the commitment from the team and coaches.
"I like what we are doing, and I like the effort of our staff in working to create a better practice environment for our athletes," Watson said. "Most of all, I like the attitude and commitment of our athletes. As an emerging sport at Arizona State, everyone is committed to its success."
He has mentioned throughout this season that the team's main priority this season has been to utilize their time on the sand as much as possible, as they have many indoor athletes on the team. This weekend will be another great opportunity for the Sun Devils to get more time on the sand against teams they might see in the near future.
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow @katlynewens on Twitter.
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