The UA beach volleyball team secured its biggest win of the season Friday morning, defeating No. 10 Stanford on the Cardinalβs home turf as part of the Pac-12 North Invitational this weekend in Northern California.
The Wildcats (18-4, 3-1 Pac-12), who came into the weekend as the first team βalso receiving votesβ outside the nationβs top 20, followed up 3-2 win over Stanford (19-7, 2-2) with a 5-0 sweep of Utah (6-18, 0-5) later in the day.
βI never realized that I would get this close," said Arizona's Sarah Blacker, who not only got close but broke the Wildcats' beach volleyball record for individual victories.
Against both the Cardinal and Utes, the Wildcats' No. 1 pairing of Alex Parkhurst and Sarah Blacker suffered first set losses.
But the duo battled back, defeating Stanford's Xolani Hodel and Maddi Kriz 15-21, 21-13, 15-13.
Later in the day against Utah's Amaya Messier and Katie McAlister, Parkhurst and Blacker did nearly the same thing in pulling out the 17-21, 21-18, 15-11 victory.
Alana Rennie and Grace Cook in the second slot for Arizona also needed three sets in both matches, but were able to pull both out with 15-10 scores in both final sets.
Kali Uhl and Dilar Gedikoglu made up the UA's other pairing to go 2-0 on the day, winning 21-18, 18-21, 15-12 over Stanford, and 21-16, 21-9 over Utah.
Arizonaβs weekend wonβt get easier, though.
The Wildcats face No. 2 USC at 8 a.m. Saturday (to be aired on Pac-12 Arizona), and then No. 4 UCLA at 11 a.m. to conclude the invitational.
Arizona beach volleyball senior Alex Parkhurst is among the winningest players for the Wildcats, even though beach volleyball wasn't necessarily what she set out to do.
Arizona softball players Blaise Biringer and Dakota Kennedy, in addition to coach Coach Caitlin Lowe, discuss the Wildcats' upcoming matchup with Stanford and the development of Biringer and Kennedy this season. The trio spoke April 4, 2023 at Rita Hillenbrand Stadium. Video by Devin Homer/Special to the Arizona Daily Star
