TEMPE – Winning every set today, No. 8 Sun Devil Beach Volleyball swept both Southern Miss and Stephen F. Austin to wrap up the Sun Devil Classic and extend the program-best start to 10-0.
Arizona State (10-0) won in straight sets across the board. Three times this season, Arizona State has accomplished this feat.
Head coach Kristen Glattfelder reached 200 career wins as a head coach after the first win of the day. Before being named the head coach at ASU, she was the leader of Grand Canyon’s beach program from 2016-23.
Two Sun Devil pairs that have played together in all 10 wins are still undefeated to start the year. The No. 1 pair of redshirt seniors Ava Kirunchyk and Samaya Morin are 10-0, along with the No. 2 duo of senior Arden Besecker and sophomore Zoë Taylor. Junior Kristin Gilmour and senior McKenna Flaherty are also undefeated together at 9-0 and Flaherty individually at 10-0.
In the ASU record book, senior Daniella Kensinger is now No. 10 in the career wins while in Tempe, improving win total to 48. Four others are in the top 20 in this category as well: Besecker is 12th (46), Kirunchyk is 16th (42) and senior Kendall Whitmarsh is 18th (37).
Junior Kaydon Meyers made her season debut against SFA, playing at the No. 4 spot with Flaherty. Freshman Layla Williams also played for the first time this season, pairing with junior Olivia McElroy at the fives. Both swept their matches.
Game one: No. 8 ASU 5, Southern Miss 0 /// Final Box
All five Sun Devil pairs swept their matches in the seventh sweep of the season. The clinch came from the top duo of Kirunchyk and Morin, though the last wave finished in close succession. Besecker and Taylor at the threes had the biggest margin of victory, winning their second set 21-8.
Game two: No. 8 ASU 5, SFA 0 /// Final Box
It was another quick sweep for Arizona State in the last dual of the weekend. Like the first match, all five courts were won in straight sets. Five sets were won by 10 or more points. On court four, Flaherty and Meyers won both sets by double-digit points, 21-9, 21-11.
Up next
The Sand Devils are on the road for the next three weekends. ASU will start the road stretch at Manhattan Beach, Calif. for the East Meets West Invitational. Arizona State will face four ranked teams at the tournament.
Quotes
Head Coach Kristen Glattfelder
On the team’s dominant performance:
“We take every opportunity we have to come here and get better. I thought the things that didn’t look as crisp yesterday, we did a really good job of cleaning those things up today.”
On having the best start in Sun Devil history:
“It’s just taking it one day at a time. We go into practice and we try to be really present on what we’re doing. We work on the skills that we need to develop and prepare for the weekend ahead of us, depending on who we’re playing. I don’t think much has changed with our mindset as coaches. From day one to now, it’s a process of constantly evaluating our pairs and who we have where and making sure that we have them in the best place to be successful. We approach everyday as an opportunity to get better and work on our weaknesses and try to make them into strengths. Just really finetune our skill and the areas that we need to before that we’re going to see. We have a really good lineup of matchups coming up next weekend, where everyone’s ranked in the top 12. It’s going to be a great test to see where we’re at and to see all the hard work pay off.”
Senior Daniella Kensinger
On her pair’s success today:
“Today’s matchups we really got to play to our strengths. We got to run a lot of fake plays. Reagan (Hope) is a huge blocker, so I got to have her at the net, and she got a bunch of great blocks. She was stealing the net and I got to run behind her and pick up any shots that went over her. We played through our strengths, we transitioned what we could and we took care of our defense.”
Sophomore Zoë Taylor
On the chemistry between her and Arden Besecker:
“Our coaches realized that we work well together and that we’re a great duo. Me and Arden are always working hard and pushing to the very end. We just have a great time, because we’re great friends, and it ends up working for us on the court.”
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