Beach Volleyball Falls To #7 Grand Canyon 5-0 To Open Play In Arizona

PHOENIX - Utah Beach Volleyball competed in its first of five matches this weekend, facing seventh-ranked Grand Canyon where it fell 5-0. The young Utes fought hard in their first matchup against a ranked opponent this season, but the Antelopes protected their home courts and picked up every set on Friday.

The freshman duo of Sydney Jacinto and Kylie Pitzak paired together for the first time this season in dual play and .gave GCU its toughest match. The No. 5 pair for Utah would go on to drop the sets 21-15 and 21-17. Utah's No. 1-4 pairs remained the same as all season, but none would be able to overcome the Lopes in Phoenix although the No. 3 pair of Marissa Koch and Samantha Leight would battle in a 21-18 first-set loss in the most competitive set of the day.

Utah moves to 4-5 and will be back in action tomorrow when it opens up Pac-12 play against top-ranked UCLA and third-ranked USC on Saturday, March 26. Utah will play UCLA at 10 a.m. MT and USC at 3 p.m. MT in Tucson, Ariz.

Utah will finish out the weekend against No. 8 Stanford and Oregon on Sunday, March 27. The matches are set for 10:15 a.m. MT and 4:30 p.m. MT, respectively. All four conference matches will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks. Live stats for the four Pac-12 contests will also be available here.
 
Grand Canyon University 5, Utah 0
1. Jess Vastine/ Anaya Evans (GCU) deft. Grace Andrews/Bella Vezzani (UTAH) 21-9, 21-15
2. Allison Hansen/ Allians Navas (GCU) deft. Sage Patchell/Amaya Messier (UTAH) 21-10, 21-14
3. Teagan DeFalco/ Samaya Morin (GCU) deft.Marissa Koch/Samantha Leight (UTAH) 21-18, 21-6
4. Krista Rowan/ Abbie Huges (GCU)  deft. Sommer Daniel/Lauren Sayre (UTAH) 21-12, 21-12
5. Dana Roskic/ Madi Relaz (GCU) deft. Sydney Jacinto| Kylie Pitzak (UTAH) 21-15, 21-17
Order of finish: Doubles (2,4,3,1,5)