No. 20 Arizona Drops Pair to Top 15 Opponents in Hawaii

HONOLULU – The Arizona beach volleyball team continued to show they can compete with the best teams in the country on Saturday, but came up just short against No. 8 Hawaii and No. 14 Georgia State on the campus of the University of Hawaii.
 
The Wildcats (18-8) lost to GSU, 4-1, in the morning and then dropped nip-and-tuck 3-2 match in the afternoon to UH.
 
Grace Cook and Alana Rennie picked up the lone win for UA against Georgia State, winning 21-19 and 21-15 at No. 3.
 
Against Hawaii, Arizona jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind wins from Dilara Gedikoglu and Kali Uhl at No. 4 and Miranda Erro and Annie Kost at No. 5. After dropping narrow decisions at No. 2 and No. 3, it all came down to the No. 1 pairs for both schools. Arizona’s Sarah Blacker and Alex Parkhurst won the first set, 21-18 and the dropped set two, 21-19, to force a decisive third set. In that set, the pair from Hawaii got in a rhythm and won, 15-6.
 
Arizona is back in action at the Ching Complex on Sunday when they take on the same two teams again starting with Georgia State at 5:30 p.m. (PT) and followed by Hawaii at 9:30 p.m. (PT). The match against Hawaii will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
#14 Georgia State 4, #20 Arizona 1
(Ching Complex) – Honolulu, HI

1. Angel Ferary/Bella Ferary (GSU) def. Sarah Blacker/Alex Parkhurst (ARIZ) 21-15, 21-18

2. Lila Bordis/Yasmin Kuck (GSU) def. Hope Shannon/Abby Russell (ARIZ) 13-21, 21-17, 15-12

3. Grace Cook/Alana Rennie (ARIZ) def. Kelly Dorn/Elise Saga (GSU) 21-19, 21-15

4. Maddy Delmonte/Ayla Johnson (GSU) def. Dilara Gedikoglu/Kali Uhl (ARIZ) 22-20, 21-19

5. Aliisa Vuorinen/Destiny White (GSU) def. Annie Kost/Miranda Erro (ARIZ) 21-19, 21-11

 

Match Notes:

Arizona 18-7; National ranking #20

Georgia State 16-13; National ranking #14

Order of finish: Doubles (5,4,3,2,1);

#8 Hawai’i 3, #20 Arizona 2

(Ching Complex) – Honolulu, HI

 

1. Kaylee Glagau/Brooke Van Sickle (UH) def. Sarah Blacker/Alex Parkhurst (ARIZ) 18-21, 21-19, 15-6

2. Kylin Loker/Riley Wagoner (UH) def. Abby Russell/Hope Shannon (ARIZ) 22-20, 21-16

3. Ilihia Huddleston/Jaime Santer (UH) def. Grace Cook/Alana Rennie (ARIZ) 21-17, 18-21, 15-8

4. Dilara…