ASU beach volleyball started its season March 4 in tough fashion at the Sun Devil Challenge, losing to both New Mexico (3-2) and No. 6 Florida State (5-0).
The team struggled right off the bat as they failed to pick up pair wins in the first round, and this is something interim head coach Jacquelyn Bunker wants to be fixed.
“We gotta get a win in that first round,” she said. “When they know (first, second and third teams) they have to win, it is a lot of pressure and so we just got to make sure that we’re taking care of each round. Each round is almost its own individual match in which you gotta at least win one to give your team a chance.”
In the first round, ASU's fourth, fifth and extra team competed. They lost each game, only pushing one of them to a third set. When the three top teams came to compete, the team improved.
Seniors Bianca Arellano and Whitney Follette paired up on the first court after competing in indoor volleyball in the fall. Arellano said they've gained a lot of chemistry in indoor over the last three years, helping them in outdoor.
“We’ve never been partners in the three years playing beach, but I think just being pepper partners and building chemistry and building trust in each other, that’s number one," she said. "You have to trust that your blocker is going to take the shot away so you cover this and this so that’s the biggest thing for me.”
The two won their match against New Mexico but wasn't able to defeat the Seminoles' top team. The battle went to three sets before FSU took a 15-10 victory.
ASU's only other victory on the day came when sophomore Sydney Palmer and redshirt sophomore Kwyn Johnson won their match against New Mexico.
Palmer took some positives out of the match and said she was proud of how the team took on one of the best teams in the nation and fought hard.
“We can compete with top-five teams. ... We just got to keep fighting hard and keep being aggressive,” Palmer said. “We wanted to come out and catch them off-guard and be aggressive and just go all-out, nothing to lose.”
Bunker also felt that even though they got swept by Florida State, they still got a lot of game things building in her program.
“I thought that our team didn’t give up,” Bunker said. “Which I think is something that we’ve really been working on, that no matter what’s the score or no matter what’s going on we’re going to keep battling, keep competing and from that we’re gonna continue to grow.”
The team will be competing again on Saturday March 5th in the second day of the tournament as they compete again No. 17 in the nation South Carolina and Colorado Mesa University.
Reach the reporter at osoussi@asu.edu or follow @omarksoussi on Twitter.
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