Sand Devils Down To Contenders Bracket After Loss To Stanford

TUCSON, Ariz. – In the Sand Devils' first dual of the 2022 Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championship, No. 6-seed Arizona State fell 3-0 to No. 3-seed Cal on Wednesday afternoon at Bear Down Beach.

Arizona State (15-14) will next play in the contender's bracket on Thursday at 9 a.m. MST to stay alive in this double-elimination championship. ASU will face No. 7-seed Washington. In the Pac-12 Championship, the Sun Devils and Huskies have met three times, with UW winning two of those. All duals this week are live on the Pac-12 Network. 

Despite the sweep, the Sun Devils saw some success against the No. 8-ranked Cardinal. The No. 5 pair of Taryn Ames and Maddy Salazar won their first set, 21-17. When the dual was clinched, this pair was tied at 19-19 in the second set. Another set win came from the No. 1 duo of Cierra Flood and Lexi Sweeney, who stormed back after a lop-sided first set to win the second set 21-17. The third frame was tied 3-3 when the dual was called.

Results (Order of Finish: 2, 3, 4*)
1) Cierra Flood/Lexi Sweeney (ASU) vs. Hodel/Reilly (STAN) 10-21, 21-17, 3-3 DNF
2) Ekstrom/Kris (STAN) def. Lila Bordis/Anya Pemberton (ASU) 21-12, 21-15
3) Sharp/Wilson (STAN) def. Rylie Kael/Sarah Waters (ASU) 21-18, 21-17 
4) Dailey/Harvey (STAN) def. Kate Fitzgerald/Kylie Wickely (ASU) 22-20, 21-17
5) Taryn Ames/Maddy Salazar (ASU) vs. Morris/McKinney (STAN) 21-17, 19-19 DNF