LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Arizona Beach Volleyball team earned two straight wins on the opening day of the Long Beach Tournament, defeating Cal State University, Bakersfield and falling to No. 9 Long Beach State University.
Match 1: Arizona v.s. Cal State University, Bakersfield (12:00 p.m. MST)
Arizona: 3
CSUB: 2
Arizona won the first match of the day against CSUB in a close 3-2 battle. Quick wins on Courts 1 & 4 put the Cats up 2-0 early in the match. Annie Kost and Elin Kaiser earned the first point for Arizona on Court 4 with a decisive 21-11, 21-11 victory over CSUB's 4's pair.
Adri Nieves Papaleo and Kate Phillips followed with their own win shortly after on Court 1 (21-12, 21-11). The Roadrunners tied the match at 2 with successive victories on Courts 3 & 5. On 3, CSUB's Ella Ensign and Katey Milne toppled Arizona's Ashlyn Zilliken and Madeline Walker in a close three-set battle (22-24, 21-19, 15-9). In another close match on Court 5, Jamie Streit and Sadie Moore fell to the Roadrunner pair of Olivia Ostler and Vianna Garcia (18-21, 21-14, 7-15).
The deciding point of the match was earned by Arizona's 2's pair, Kylee Fitzsimmons and Brooke Blutreich. After falling in the first set 14-21, the Wildcat pair came back to win the next two sets 21-17, 15-11 to secure the match win for the Wildcats.
Match 2: Arizona vs. Long Beach State University (2:00 p.m. MST)
Arizona: 1
LBSU: 4
Later in the day, the Cats faced No. 9 Long Beach State University at 2:00 p.m. MST. Arizona fell to the Beach 1-4.
Court 3 finished first, with LBSU's Savannah Standage and Natalie Glenn defeating Zilliken and Walker 21-12, 21-13.
The Beach tallied another point soon after on Court 2, with Julia Westby and Haley Carrington securing a 21-11, 21-15 victory over Fitzsimmons and Blutreich.
Nieves and Papaleo went 1-1 on Court 1 for the day after falling to LBSU's Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah 21-12, 21-13.
Then, on Court 5, Kost and Kaiser put up a strong fight against Demi Wagdy and Megan Widener, falling just short in the first set 21-18. The Cats were unable to rebound and ended the second set in a 21-10 deficit. Kost and Kaiser also ended the day 1-1.
Meghan O'Meara and Brooke Boyko picked up the point for the Cats against the Beach after winning a hard-fought battle on Court 4 (21-16, 13-21, 15-11).
Up Next:
The Cats return to the Long Beach courts on Sunday, March 16 for another doubleheader against the University of San Francisco (9:00 a.m. MST) and Tarleton State (12:00 p.m. MST).
