It’s possible the Arizona beach volleyball tandem of Kali Uhl and Dilara Gedikoglu don’t realize how good of a weekend they just had.
But the American Volleyball Coaches Association, CollegeBeachVB.com and the Pac-12 all realized it, though. The first two organizations named the duo their national beach volleyball “pair of the week” for their efforts at last weekend’s Pac-12 North Invitational, with the Pac-12 affirming that by adding conference pair of the week honors.
The duo went 4-0 in the invitational held on the Stanford campus, defeating pairs from No. 2 USC, No. 3 UCLA, No. 10 Stanford and Utah in the process. While the team win over the host Cardinal was arguably the Arizona’s high-water mark as a team for the season, wins in the fourth position by Uhl and Gedikoglu were what kept the upstart Wildcats from being swept by the highly-ranked Trojans and Bruins.
The UA beach volleyball tandem of Kali Uhl and Dilara Gedikoglu went 4-0 last weekend, including a win over their opponent from second-ranked USC on Saturday, April 8, 2023. On the season, together Uhl and Gedikoglu are 13-0 overall, and 11-0 out of the Wildcats' fourth position. They're the second-ranked No. 4 pair in the nation to date. Video courtesy Arizona Athletics (via Twitter)
“Personally, I was not expecting to be named national pair of the week. I mean, obviously we had a great weekend after this past week, but we were expecting okay, maybe we will be Pac 12 (pair) of the week,” Gedikoglu said. “But when they told us we were national pair of the week, we were like, ‘Wow, look at us. We did that.’”
With the Pac-12 having six teams ranked in the top 20 of the nation — that includes Arizona, which jumped back in this week by way of its 2-2 weekend in the Bay Area, anchored by the 3-2 team win over Stanford, virtually every team matchup in the conference, week-in, week-out, is tough.
“Every team in the Pac 12 is really strong this year. I think every game was hard competition,” Uhl said. “So I think it was just trying to worry about what we can do to try to just win every side, switch four-to-three and just slowly pull ahead.
“We weren’t going to destroy any of these teams,” Uhl admitted, adding “we were going to have to go back and forth. So I think to be ready for hard competition on the other side of the net and just try to do our game the best we can.”
For the season Gedikoglu and Uhl are 13-0 when playing together, and 11-0 while competing in the fourth position in the UA lineup. They have won 10 of their 13 matches in just two sets and are the second-ranked No. 4 pair in the nation.
“I feel like we’re both really excited to have opportunities together this year. And we’re just kind of having the mindset (to) take advantage of every opportunity,” Uhl said. “And I think we’ve done a really good job. No matter if the team is ranked or unranked, just coming out with the same mindset like, ‘OK, one point at a time. Let’s take advantage and try to prove we’re ready for a spot.’”
The pair will look to add to their win total this weekend at the Hawai’i Invitational where Arizona will face off against two more ranked teams, No. 8 Hawai’i and No. 14 Georgia State.
“As a team we know it’s not going to be easy for us,” Gedikoglu said. “But we are just gonna give everything that we can do and just believe in going (in) with the same mindset we had this past weekend.”
Heading into the spring season, the pair have not actually spent a lot of time together since Gedikoglu also plays for the Arizona indoor volleyball team during the fall.
“They’ve really provided us a shot in the arm,” UA coach Steve Waker said. “I think their ability to cover court and force the other team to have to beat them has been just exceptional and, really, it’s been really fun to see their evolution as a pair of the partnership.”
Walker said it’s specifically their ability to gel quickly that’s helped not only their success rate on the court, but also the UA team’s as a whole.
“I’m just really proud of how they’ve come together and have bought into the things we’re trying to do and the things that we’re asking them to do,” Walker said. “You’re kind of seeing the fruits of their labor.”
