TEMPE – No. 11 Sun Devil Beach Volleyball finished off the Sun Devil Invitational with a second-straight sweep, beating Texas A&M-Kingsville 5-0 on Saturday.
Today's win over TAMUK (4-2) carries on the Sun Devils' perfect record at 6-0 and ties the program record for longest winning streak at six in a row (also in 2019, 2017).
Every court won in straight sets and sophomores Kendall Whitmarsh and Adriana Nieves Papaleo remain undefeated on the season, improving to 6-0. The top two courts both finished in straight sets, each logging 21-9 and 21-11 sets.
Sophomore Carys Thomas made her season debut with Nieves Papaleo at the No. 5 spot, winning 21-13, 21-14.
Final Results (Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1*, 5, 3)
Up Next
ASU is set to host the Pac-12 South Tournament from March 8-10. The Sun Devils will duel against UCLA at 10 a.m. MST and Stanford at 6 p.m. MST on March 8. They finish off the weekend playing California at 10 a.m. MST and Arizona at 4 p.m. MST on March 10. The whole weekend will be on the Pac-12 Network.
Quotes
Head Coach Kristen Rohr
Overall thoughts on the home opening weekend:
"I thought it was great. It was exciting to see a lot of the families and fans out here and we want to keep growing our fan base and getting people from the community here. It's just a good opportunity to get our feet in the sand before Pac-12 South and be able to feel the environment, and it's always a little nerve wracking at first when you have your first home match. So I thought we played really well. There wasn't one bad pair. Every single pair that we played came in and played us tough and gave it all they had. I thought that maybe we were a little shaky at times yesterday, but I thought we responded really well today, came back with a little extra confidence and we've just been preaching to trust our training."
On anyone or any moment that stood out:
"I would say that it's awesome for us to get a lot of people the ability to play and to see them in a game situation because obviously it's much different than just practice. It was nice that the other teams brought a bunch of pairs (to exhibition). I thought that Anya had a pretty break-through weekend with her blocking. It is really starting to click and she's doing some really high-level stuff as a blocker and a puller. That's something that we've been working on a lot with her. Her and Dani haven't had a whole lot of time together, so I thought that this weekend was really important for them to get on the same page. They just keep getting better and better together every time they step on the court.
Today's win over TAMUK (4-2) carries on the Sun Devils' perfect record at 6-0 and ties the program record for longest winning streak at six in a row (also in 2019, 2017).
Every court won in straight sets and sophomores Kendall Whitmarsh and Adriana Nieves Papaleo remain undefeated on the season, improving to 6-0. The top two courts both finished in straight sets, each logging 21-9 and 21-11 sets.
That's the clinch on court 1??! ??
— Sun Devil Beach VB (@SunDevilBeachVB) March 2, 2024
ASU 3, TAMUK 0#SandDevils /// #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/gIb6OEC2AJ
Sophomore Carys Thomas made her season debut with Nieves Papaleo at the No. 5 spot, winning 21-13, 21-14.
Final Results (Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1*, 5, 3)
- Daniella Kensinger/Anya Pemberton (ASU) def. Pollard/Vasquez (TAMUK) 21-11, 21-9
- Arden Besecker/Ava Williamson (ASU) def. Gettys/VanBrunt (TAMUK) 21-9, 21-11
- Taryn Ames/Lexi Sweeney (ASU) def. Wallace/Zeigler (TAMUK) 21-14
- Ava Haughy/Kendall Whitmarsh (ASU) def. Huesca/McCarthy (TAMUK) 21-17, 21-18
- Adriana Nieves Papaleo/Carys Thomas (ASU) def. Anderson/Stiefer (TAMUK) 21-13, 21-14
Up Next
ASU is set to host the Pac-12 South Tournament from March 8-10. The Sun Devils will duel against UCLA at 10 a.m. MST and Stanford at 6 p.m. MST on March 8. They finish off the weekend playing California at 10 a.m. MST and Arizona at 4 p.m. MST on March 10. The whole weekend will be on the Pac-12 Network.
Quotes
Head Coach Kristen Rohr
Overall thoughts on the home opening weekend:
"I thought it was great. It was exciting to see a lot of the families and fans out here and we want to keep growing our fan base and getting people from the community here. It's just a good opportunity to get our feet in the sand before Pac-12 South and be able to feel the environment, and it's always a little nerve wracking at first when you have your first home match. So I thought we played really well. There wasn't one bad pair. Every single pair that we played came in and played us tough and gave it all they had. I thought that maybe we were a little shaky at times yesterday, but I thought we responded really well today, came back with a little extra confidence and we've just been preaching to trust our training."
On anyone or any moment that stood out:
"I would say that it's awesome for us to get a lot of people the ability to play and to see them in a game situation because obviously it's much different than just practice. It was nice that the other teams brought a bunch of pairs (to exhibition). I thought that Anya had a pretty break-through weekend with her blocking. It is really starting to click and she's doing some really high-level stuff as a blocker and a puller. That's something that we've been working on a lot with her. Her and Dani haven't had a whole lot of time together, so I thought that this weekend was really important for them to get on the same page. They just keep getting better and better together every time they step on the court.