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No. 20 Sand Devils Head to Cactus Classic This Weekend

by thesundevils.com
Mar 4, 2021

Cactus Classic Notes

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Sand Devils will drive down to Tucson this weekend to compete in the Cactus Classic from March 6-7, competing against Boise State, Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M - Corpus Christi.
 
Sun Devil Outlook
No. 20 Arizona State (1-1)

  • The Sand Devils opened up the season at the Canyon Classic, starting with a sweep of Colorado Mesa before falling to No. 7 Grand Canyon.
  • Three freshmen made their collegiate debut at the tournament. Taryn Ames and Kate Fitzgerald were paired up on court five in both matches, winning both to be the only ASU pair to go undefeated. Lila Bordis was another freshman who competed, pairing with junior Maddy Salazar at the No. 4 spot, going 1-1.
  • Three seniors are currently in the top 10 for individual wins in the record book. Fifth-year senior Katelyn Carballo is No. 3 with 57 wins while Samantha Plaster is at No. 6 (48) and Cierra Flood is at No. 9 (40). Carballo is four wins away from the No. 1 spot.
  • All three teams on the schedule this weekend are unranked. Arizona State has not lost to an unranked team since 2018. 

Opponent Outlook
Boise State (0-0)

  • The Broncos have yet to play a match in 2021. In the shortened 2020 season, they played just four duals, going 1-3.
  • Boise State has just two seniors and four juniors on the young roster. Redshirt sophomore Joey Benson is the top returner from last season. She led the team with two individual wins.
  • One of those losses in 2020 came at the hands of the Sun Devils, a 5-0 sweep. ASU leads the overall series against Boise State, 3-2. The last time the Broncos beat the Sand Devils was in 2018.

Stephen F. Austin (2-2)

  • The Ladyjacks opened the season at the Kingsville tournament, going 2-2. The two wins came against Ottawa University.
  • In 2020, they went 7-5 in the short season. Their last two wins were close 3-2 victories over Pacific and UC Davis.
  • The Sun Devils will face the Jacks for the first time in program history at the tournament.

Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (3-1)

  • The Islanders have had a strong start to the season, going 3-1 at the HBU Tournament, the lone loss coming to No. 1 LSU. All three of their wins were won by a close 3-2 margin.
  • Last season, they were only able to play eight games, going 5-3.
  • This will be the first meeting in program history between these ASU and Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. They were set to meet in 2020 before the season was canceled.

How to Follow
Live scoring will be available for the Cactus Classic. Updates will also be posted on Twitter (@SunDevilBeachVB) and Instagram (@sundevilbeachvb).

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