TUCSON, Ariz.— The Colorado Mesa University beach volleyball team came up short against a pair of NCAA Division I opponents on Friday as they fell 3-2 to UTEP and 5-0 to the host Wildcats on Friday in Arizona Invitational action here at Bear Down Beach.
The Mavericks are now 11-7 on the season and 1-1 against the UTEP Miners this season after claiming a 4-1 win over them earlier this month (Mar. 1) in Kingsville, Texas.
UTEP improved to 9-6 with Friday's win but later dropped a 3-2 decision to Central Arkansas, a team the Mavs will face on Saturday morning to wrap up the weekend round-robin tournament.
In Friday morning's match, the Mavs took the early lead as
Taylor Scherff and
Jessica Passi blasted Lauren Perry and Emma Schubert, 21-16, 21-5 in the first completed match at No. 4.
However, the Miners came back to win straight-set decisions at No. 1 and 2, to seize a 2-1 overall lead.
They then came from behind at No. 3 and Mila Popovic and Marian Ovalle got past CMU's
Barett Nolan and
Ania Swartzendruber, 16-21, 21-13, 15-8 to clinch the dual.
The Mavs did answer at No. 5 as
Stormi Tadlock and
Lauren Rohlwing claimed a 3-set (16-21, 26-24, 15-11) thriller over UTEP duo Mackenzi Davis and Reese Rich to complete action.
Arizona (8-6), which beat Central Arkansas, 4-1 earlier in the day, then won all five matches in the afternoon dual against the Mavs in straight sets.
Nolan and Swartzendruber, who was on the Wildcats' indoor volleyball roster in the fall of 2023, posted the closet scores for CMU, but fell 21-19, 22-20 to Ashlyn Zilliken and Madeline Walker at No. 3.
The Mavs did make slight lineup adjustments against Arizona as
Riley Daugherty and
Lizzy Hood moved up to No. 1 while
Brooke Hartman filled in for
Gracyn Spresser and played with
Ellie Ask. Ask and Spresser had been in the No. 1 spot of the lineup all season.
In exhibition action against the Wildcats,
Izzy Burns and
Sofia Kolbe split sets against Sadie Moore and Jamie Streit, winning the first 21-11 and dropping the second 21-9. Kolbe also played with
Ava Blanco in another exhibition match, dropping that 21-18, 21-16 to Leah Norris and Olivia Rubio.
Live results for Saturday's match-up against Central Arkansas,
can be accessed here. That will get underway at 9 a.m. local time (10 a.m. MDT).
