Three Top-Five Teams Await #12 Sand Devils in California

TEMPE – No. 12 Sun Devil Beach Volleyball has mulitple chances to pick up top-10 wins this weekend as they head to California for the Center of Effort Challenge, hosted by Cal Poly from April 11-12. 

After a 3-1 weekend in Tucson, Arizona State will get rematches against three teams they lost to earlier this season with a final regular-season road tournament. The Sun Devils will play No. 1 TCU and No. 2 UCLA on Friday at 11:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. PDT/MST, respectively, and then take on No. 4 LMU on Saturday at 9 a.m. PDT/mST. Based on how the teams do, they will be paired with a team from another pool to play a last dual on Saturday. The duals will see all five pairs play at the same time.

Other teams at the tournament include No. 3 Cal Poly, No. 7 Florida State, No. 5 Stanford and No. 6 USC. The tournament website can be found here. 

How to Follow
There will be live scoring for the duals. Fans can also follow along on X (formerly Twitter) at @SunDevilBeachVB and on Instagram at @sundevilbeachvb. The COE Challenge website is here.

Sun Devil Outlook
No. 12 Arizona State (17-9)

• The Sand Devils were 3-1 over the weekend at the Spring Wildcat Challenge and de facto Big 12 Invitational, picking up wins over Pepperdine, Arizona, and Utah. 
• With a 5-0 win over Utah, ASU now has eight sweeps this season, which is second-most in program history. 
• No. 2 pair Ava Kirunchyk and Ava Williamson are the Big 12 Pair of the Week. They went 4-0 over the weekend, including a win over the No. 2 pair from No. 1 TCU. The duo is now on a nine-match winning streak, tied for second-most by a pair in program history. The streak began when the two were paired up for the first time vs. Arizona on March 26.
• Additionally, sophomore Olivia McElroy and senior Anya Pemberton hold a three-match winning streak. Individually, Pemberton has won four in a row.
• In the ASU record book, Williamson is tied for No. 12 for individual wins as a Sun Devil (42). There are six more behind her in the top 25, including Pemberton right behind her with 40 at No. 14. 
• For the second-consecutive season, the Sun Devils have eclipsed the 15-win mark.
• The Sun Devils remain undefeated against unranked opponents under head coach Kristen Glattfelder. Against ranked teams this season, ASU is 6-9. 

Opponent Outlook
No. 1 TCU (19-3)

• The Horned Frogs went 4-0 at the Wildcat Spring Challenge over the weekend. The team now has a 17 dual winning streak, which is the longest active streak among ranked NCAA Beach Volleyball teams.
• TCU has 14 ranked wins on the season, and is undefeated against unranked teams. All three of their losses came during the opening weekend of the season against teams ranked in the Top 10. 
• The Sand Devils are 3-5 against the Horned Frogs all-time. TCU has won the last four duals between the two teams, including a 3-2 victory over the Devils over the weekend.

No. 2 UCLA (24-4)

• UCLA was 2-2 over the weekend at the Best in the West Tournament. The squad picked up wins over No. 19 Washington and No, 17 Hawai'i, and fell to No. 6 Cal Poly and No. 3 LMU.
• Arizona State is 0-11 against UCLA all-time. The last meeting between the two teams came earlier this season, at the Outrigger Classic, when the Bruins took the dual 4-1.

No. 4 LMU (26-4)

• The Lions went 2-2 at the Best of the West Tournament, falling to No. 14 Stetson and No. 6 Cal Poly, and picking up wins over No. 16 University of North Florida and No. 2 UCLA. 
• The Sun Devils are 1-4 against LMU all-time. The two teams met up at the Outrigger Classic, and the Lions took the dual 5-0.