TUCSON, Ariz. – The 15th-ranked Arizona beach volleyball team will head to Tallahassee, Fla. this weekend to compete in the Seminole Beach Battle at Florida State University. The Cats will make their tournament debut Friday morning with back-to-back matches. The Wildcats will first battle against the No. 3 Seminoles at 7:30 a.m. MST., before taking on No. 10 Stetson at 9:00 a.m. MST. Arizona will close out the weekend on Saturday against Austin Peay State at 6:30 a.m. MST. Fans can follow the action on ArizonaLiveStats.com.
Serving Up the Facts
Arizona maintained its No. 15 rank this week in the AVCA poll, and came in at No. 14 in the DiG poll. This came after their winning weekend at the Arizona Invitational. The Cats went undefeated at Bear Down Beach beating the University of Louisiana Monroe 5-0, Arizona State 3-2, the University of North Florida 4-1, and New Mexico 4-1.
"Coming out of last weekend, it's hard to not like the progress we're making at this point in the season," said head coach
Steve Walker. "It is never easy to play your rival in an always hotly contested match, then turn right around and play some terrific up and coming programs, and come out unscathed. But we managed last weekend very well and just like the staff, I know the team is very excited to go out east and compete against more very good, established programs. We are ready for the challenge."
SandCat Standouts
The top overall record for three Wildcat duos this week is 8-2. The pairs of Johnny Baham and
Brooke Burling,
Sarah Blacker and
Jasmine Safar, and
Ainise Havili and
Dana Parker all have eight wins under their belt, which have contributed to Arizona's 10-2 record as a team.
Setting Up the Weekend
The Cats will open up the tournament against No. 3 Florida State (11-4), who lost to Arizona 3-2 the last time the two teams met in 2017. Their second match of the day will be against No. 10 Stetson (11-3), who came out on top 3-2 against the Cats at last year's Wildcat Invitational. Arizona will finish out the tournament taking on Austin Peay State (4-5) for the first time.
Arizona's matches for the Seminole Beach Battle are listed below:
Seminole Beach Battle
No. 15 Arizona vs. No. 3 Florida State (7:30 a.m.)
No. 15 Arizona vs. No. 10 Stetson (9:00 a.m.)
No. 15 Arizona vs. Austin Peay (6:30 a.m.)
Follow the Cats!
For continued coverage of Arizona Wildcat Beach Volleyball, visit ArizonaWildcats.com. Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona Athletics by following us on Twitter (@UAbeachvb), Instagram (@arizonabeachvolleyball), Facebook (ArizonaBeachVolleyball), and Snapchat (Arizonabeachvb).
