TUCSON, Ariz.— The Colorado Mesa University beach volleyball team put up some strong fights against two of the top 22 teams in the country, but eventually fell to Arizona State University and the University of Arizona on Saturday morning here on the Bear Down Beach.
The Mavs wrapped up the season-starting Cactus Classic weekend with a 1-3 mark with all three losses coming by tight margins to teams ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Top 20 Coaches' Poll. They also defeated NCAA Division I UTEP, 5-0 yesterday.
On Saturday, the Mavericks fell 4-1 to Arizona State, now 2-1, receiving votes in the poll, before being downed 3-2 by the No. 18 Arizona Wildcats, who moved to 3-0. The Mavs won the first and second flight matches against the Wildcats and were victorious at No. 4 against Arizona State as
Tye Wedhorn and
Sabrina VanDeList finished the weekend with a 3-1 record.
That Maverick pair claimed a 24-22, 15-21, 15-12 thriller over Kate Fitzgerald and Rylie Kael in the dual against the Sun Devils.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks took two of the other matches to three sets, decided by just seven combined points. If those matches had gone the other way, the Mavs would have won the dual.
At No. 1 ASU's Lexi Sweeney and Kylie Wickley were able to claim a 17-21, 21-16, 15-11 win over
Holly Schmidt and
Macie Lachemann. Meanwhile, Anya Pemberton and Ivey Weber claimed a 21-18, 19-21, 15-12 win over CMU's
Jada Hall and
Gracyn Spresser at No. 3.
Against the host Wildcats, Schmidt and Lachemann were 21-15, 21-15 winners over Dilara Gedikoglu and Alex Parkhurst in the top flight while
Savannah Spitzer and
Hahni Johnson claimed a hard-fought 15-21, 23-21, 16-14 win in the second flight over Arizona's Abby Russell and Hope Shannon.
The Wildcats won the other three matches in straight sets. Two of those six combined sets were decided by just two points.
The Mavericks will be off next weekend before returning to Arizona for three matches in the Phoenix area on Mar. 11-12.
