ASU beach volleyball found success today in Tucson when defeating both CSU Bakersfield 4-1 and Cal State Northridge 5-0 at the Wildcat Spring Challenge.
Last weekend in New Mexico, the chemistry of ASU No. 1 pair, seniors Bianca Arellano and Whitney Follette (8-4), was obvious. They won all three games. However, the matchup against CSU Bakersfield on Saturday morning gave the duo its first loss since falling to LBSU.
The Roadrunner duo, Sydney Haynes and Carol Grasso, has only lost one game this season. The Sun Devils hung close in the third set before falling 22-20.
However, in the later match, the Arellano and Follette pairing easily swept CSUN’s Katie Sato and Lauren Conati 21-14 and 21-9.
Proving complementary to each other, No. 2 duo sophomores Sydney Palmer and Kwyn Johnson achieved a sweep on a day filled with two-set matches. They defeated CSUB’s pair Jocelyn Rodriguez and Editha Urias 21-14 and 21-7, before maintaining momentum and beating CSUN’s Maddie Leiphardt and Julia Haake 21-17 and 21-7.
After only locking down only one win last weekend at NMSU, No. 3 team freshman Bethany Wedepohl and junior Madison Berridge followed suit of the No. 2 team. They finished the morning with a confidence boost after sweeping CSUB’s Kelsee Sawyer and Kayla Tinker, before emulating a similar performance, notching scores of 21-18 and 21-13 against CSUN.
ASU’s No. 4 duo freshman Jourdan Parnell and junior Mia Rivera and No. 5 pair Logan Rae and Frances Giedraitis had similar fates. Each team swept their CSUB opponents this morning before finishing the night with a three-set win over CSUN.
The Sun Devils finished the day with two victories. Next Friday, ASU (7-5) heads to the Outrigger Beach Volleyball Challenge, where it will face both Hawaii and UCLA.
Reach the reporter at ncorr@asu.edu or follow @natalieorr19 on Twitter.
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