TUCSON, Ariz.— Redshirt junior
Ara Norwood became the Colorado Mesa University Beach Volleyball program's all-time winningest player as she teamed with
Tye Wedhorn for victory in the fifth flight of the Mavericks' dual against Missouri State University on Friday morning here at the Arizona Invitational.
The 21-11, 19-21, 15-11 victory over the Bears' Brooke Plessner and Gala Galaora was Norwood's 19th, allowing her to move past former teammate
Katie Scherr, who had won 18 during her 2017-19 career. It was also good for the Mavericks' lone point in a very tight battle that went the way of the Bears, 4-1, after they won three of the four 3-set matches to claim the win.
Later on Friday, the Mavericks (3-9) fell to No. 8 Pepperdine and No. 10 Grand Canyon by 5-0 scores although the Mavericks were able to take two sets off the Pepperdine Waves.
Norwood, who hails from Ridgway, Colorado, and Wedhorn, a Glenwood Springs, Colorado native, now have four wins to their credit this season, equal to the most on the team. They played in the No. 5 position for the first time after they switched spots with
Ashton Reese and
Sabrina VanDeList, who dropped a pair of 3-setters on Friday.
Against Missouri State's Tory Penick and Pamela Jaime, Reese and VanDeList, who also have four wins this year, dropped the first set, 21-15, but rallied for a 21-19 win in the second before going down by just three points (15-12) in the third. That Maverick duo also won a 21-14 second set over Pepperdine's Calista Wright and Katie Gavin but again fell in the third, 15-12.
Against Missouri State, the Mavericks were tied at 1 against Missouri State through two matches but dropped the third set in all three of the remaining matches by just seven combined points.
Maddi Foutz and
Holly Schmidt fell 17-15 in the third set after winning the second, 21-17 over Tylar Garrett and Chloe Filipski in the No. 1 match.
Hahni Johnson and
Sierra Hunt also dropped an agonizingly close decision at No. 3, falling 21-18, 14-21, 15-13 to Kylee Davie and Parker McAllen. Johnson and Hunt also lost their 3-set match against Pepperdine by just two points, 16-14, in the third. They had claimed the opening set by a 21-16 score over the Waves' Mary Sinclair and Sutton Mactavish.
The Mavericks will remain at the Arizona Invitational on Saturday playing UC-Davis at 9 a.m. local time (10 a.m. MDT).
