The Arizona Beach Volleyball program played its first official season as a NCAA Division I sport until 2016, there have still been a number of stellar careers in the sand by a number of Wildcats since the program started in 2014.
 
Because beach volleyball has two student-athletes from each team competing against each other on a court, we wanted to take a look back at some of the best pairs in UA history and then let YOU – the fans – vote on who you think is the best in program history.
 
When you look at the record book, some of the names that have posted the most wins are Madison Witt and McKenna Witt while others like Madi Kingdon and Kaitlyn Leary garnered AVCA All-America honors. There are also current student-athletes that have put themselves near the top of the wins list and still have a chance to move up the list in 2021.
 
Below is a look at the six options we selected for the best pair in Arizona Beach Volleyball history:
 
Option #1: Madison Witt and McKenna Witt
Number to Know: 86 – the 86 wins that these two recorded together is a program record.
In Two Sentences: The twin sisters combined to go 55-15 in Flight 1 over their final three seasons in Tucson, helping the Wildcats advance to their only appearance in the NCAA Championship in 2016. Their 86 wins are 47 more wins than the pair in second place in program history.
 
Option #2: Kaitlyn Leary and Madi Kingdon
Number to Know: .889 – the winning percentage the pair put together in their career (2^nd in program history).
In Two Sentences: The pair advanced to the final four of the AVCA Sand Pairs Championship in 2015 and were named All-Americans and finished with a 20-3 record at Flight 1. They also helped lead Arizona to a top 10 national ranking in 2015 and a 18-3 record as a team, the best single-season winning percentage in school history.
 
Option #3: Natalie Anselmo and Madison Rigdon
Number to Know: 1.000 – that was the winning percentage for these two over 21 matches that they played together.
In Two Sentences: Anselmo and Rigdon are the only pair in Arizona history that has played 20 matches together and has a perfect winning percentage. They were also the only pair in the COUNTRY to go undefeated in their flight (Flight 3) for the entire 2019 season on their way to being named AVCA Top Flight.
 
Option #4: Jonny Baham and Brooke Burling
Number to Know: 39 – the number of wins the two accumulated together in their careers, which ranks second in program history.
In Two Sentences: Baham and Burling, both of whom will be back in the sand for Arizona in 2021, amassed a combined record of 39-13 during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. In 2019, the pair was 15-5 at No. 1 and No. 2 flights.
 
Option #5: Kat Schulz and Jianna Bonomi
Number to Know: 1 – this pair is the only pair in program history to be named to the NCAA All-Tournament team, doing so in 2016.
In Two Sentences: Schulz and Bonomi were paired together for just one season, but they certainly made the most of it, posting a 21-6 record in the Flight 2 position and earning Second Team All Pac-12 accolades. Their winning percentage ranks sixth in program history and the 21 wins tied for the sixth most.
 
Option #6: Hailey Devlin and Kenzie Kleespies
Number to Know: .800 – they are one of just five pairs in program history to have a career winning percentage of .800 or better
In Two Sentences: Playing out of the fifth flight during the run to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, Devlin and Kleespies registered a record of 20-5. They went 4-2 at the Pac-12 Championship to help the 'Cats advance to the championship match and secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.