At the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships in California this weekend, ASU beach volleyball fell 3-2 to No. 4 California. Due to the double-elimination system, the Sand Devils battled in the Contenders Bracket on Saturday. Up against No. 8 Oregon and No. 3 Arizona, the team finished the season with a split.
Starting off the morning, ASU took on Oregon. No. 4 seed freshmen Bethany Wedepohl and Jourdan Parnell faced Oregon’s Lauren Page and Maddy Silberger-Franek. The two dropped both sets one and two, recording scores of 21-12 and 21-11.
With Oregon leading 1-0, No 5. pair Frances Giedraitis and senior Logan Rae faced August Raskie and Haley McLaren. Performing the opposite of their teammates, the pair swept Oregon with scores of 21-18 and 21-17.
Including this win, Giedraitis became the fourth Sand Devil to reach the 20-win mark.
No. 2 duo Kwyn Johnson and freshman Natalie Braun mimicked the No. 4 team, as they dropped both sets against Lindsey Vander Wiede and Martenne Bettendorf. However, the ASU managed a 3-2 win over Oregon after ASU’s No. 1 and No. 3 teams finished strong. The top pair, juniors Bianca Arellano and Whitney Follette, swept Liz Brenner and Kacey Nady with close scores of 21-18 and 21-16.
Finally, No. 3 pair Madison Berridge and Mia Rivera swept Taylor Agost and Amanda Benson.
Not a single game made it to the third set on Saturday.
With this victory against Oregon, ASU qualified to challenge No. 3 Arizona. Due to the fact that No. 2 UCLA beat Arizona, the Sand Devils will face their rivals from Tucson for the third time in the past 17 days.
In the past two matchups against Arizona, ASU won neither. This theme continued when Giedraitis and Rae challenged Arizona’s Hailey Pelvin and Mackenzie Kleespies. Arizona swept the fifth seed with scores of 21-18 and 21-14.
Arizona quickly earned its second point when Wedepohl and Parnell also dropped both sets to Mia Mason and Kalei Mau.
After winning their first set against Madison and McKenna Witt at 24-26, Arellano and Follette fell for the first time of the day when losing 15-11 in the third set. However, the duo’s 18 wins in 2016 mark a record for ASU.
Johnson and Braun performed nearly the same as against Oregon, facing a sweep by Jianna Bonomi and Kat Schulz.
Meanwhile, Berridge and Rivera came back in the second set, after Olivia Macdonald and Sam Manley beat the duo 17-21. Heading into the third set after a promising 21-17 score from the second, Arizona earned its fifth and final point of the night when the two beat ASU 16-14.
While the team failed to conquer Arizona during the three meetups, it was a historical season for the Sand Devils. With the third year of the program complete, ASU beach volleyball walks away with the most wins in history at 12-13.
Reach the reporter at ncorr@asu.edu or follow @natalieorr19 on Twitter.
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