Arizona Falls to Long Beach State
LONG BEACH, Calif.– The No. 6 Arizona sand volleyball team experienced its second loss of the season Friday afternoon against No. 7 Long Beach State, (4-1). The Sand Cats now hold an 8-2 record, but have more weekend of play as they will take on LMU, CSU Bakersfield and No. 1 Pepperdine in the next two days. This was UA’s first match up of the season with the 49ers.
The Cats got off to a strong start to the match, but struggled to pull through. Arizona’s No. 5 team of Hailey Devlin and MacKenzie Kleespies took the match to three sets, but fell short in the last one as Long Beach States’ Ariana Garner and Peyton Grahovac closed out the match with a win, (21-15, 16-21, 17-19).
UA’s No. 2 duo of Jianna Bonomi and Katarina Schulz suffered a loss as they defeated the 49ers pair in the first set, but Long Beach States team of Nele Barber and Rachel Nieto would then come back to pick up wins in the second and third sets., (21-19,16-21,10-15.)
At the No. 3 position, Olivia Macdonald and Sam Manley battled as they had a close first set, but fell to the 49ers tandem of Kobi Pekich and Sammee Thomas, (18-21, 14-21).
Meanwhile, Wildcats’ No.1 team of Madison and McKenna Witt picked up a win, earning a hard fought victory as they defeated Jennelle Hudson and Zoi Konstantopoulou (21-12, 21-18).
Arizona’s No. 4 duo of Mia Mason and Sara Pantovic suffered a loss against Long Beach State’s Mylan Wilson and Ciana Wagner, (15-2,14-21).
The Sand Cats are not done yet, as they begin the Zuma Classic tomorrow at Pepperdine University. UA will open up the tournament competing against LMU at 11:15 a.m. and CSU Bakersfield at 2:15 p.m. MST. This will be Arizona’s second match of the season against LMU and CSU Bakersfield as the Cats dominated against both two teams, (5-0).
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For this weekend’s entire schedule see below.
Match Schedule
Saturday, April 2 (Zuma Classic)
Arizona vs. LMU (11:15 a.m.)
Arizona vs. CSU Bakersfield (2:15 p.m.)
Sunday, April 3 (Zuma Classic)
Arizona at Pepperdine (10 a.m.)