Aloha! Arizona Beach Volleyball Heads to Hawaii Invitational

TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona Beach Volleyball travels to Honolulu, Hawai’i for their last tournament weekend of the regular season, where they will take on No. 14 Georgia State and No. 8 Hawai’i on Saturday and Sunday. 

Sunday’s match (9:30pm PT) against Hawai’i will be televised live on ESPN+.

The schedule for the weekend looks like this:

Saturday, April 15

Arizona vs. #14 Georgia State | 11:00 a.m. MST

Live Stats

Arizona at #8 Hawai’i | 1:15 p.m. MST

Live Stats 

 

Sunday, April 16

Arizona vs. #14 Georgia State | 5:30 p.m. MST

Live Stats 

Arizona at #8 Hawai’i | 9:30 p.m. MST

TV: ESPN+

Live Stats | Stream

News and Notes

* The 2023 season marks the 10th for Arizona head coach Steve Walker at the helm of the Wildcats program. He’s the only head coach the program has had since it was started in 2014. Walker’s overall record as head coach at Arizona is 177-75.

* Last weekend, Arizona went 2-2 with wins over #10 Stanford and Utah at the Pac-12 North Invitational.

* This weekend will be the last tournament in the regular season. The Wildcats are 2-0 all-time against Georgia State and 1-6 against Hawai’i 

* Arizona’s last win over Georgia State was on May 6, 2016 in the NCAA Tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

* Arizona’s only win against Hawai’i came on April 18th, 2021 in Seattle for the University of Washington Invitational. Match results from that day were 4-1 featuring three current players claiming a court win; seniors Alex Parkhurst, Alana Rennie, and Hope Shannon look to add to their career record against Hawai’i. 

* A look at the record and winning percentage by lineup position this season for Arizona:

Court 1: 15-9 (.625)

Court 2: 15-9 (.625)

Court 3: 18-6 (.750)

Court 4: 21-3 (.875)

Court 5: 17-7 (.708)

Overall: 86-34 (.717)

* Super senior Sarah Blacker opted to use her extra year of eligibility and return to the Wildcats in 2023. On April 1 against UTEP, Blacker picked up her 87th career win to set a new Arizona record for individual career victories. The previous record was 86 wins held by Madison Witt, McKenna Witt and Brooke Burling.

Arizona Individual Wins (Career)

89

Sarah Blacker (2019-Present)

86

Madison Witt (2014-17)

McKenna Witt (2014-17)

Brooke Burling (2017-21)

81

Natalie Anselmo (2017-21)

77

Hailey Devlin (2015-18)

*This past week, Arizona’s #4 pair Kali Uhl and Dilara Gedikoglu achieved a National Pair of the Week honor for their play at the Pac-12 North Invitational. They also took home a Pac-12 Pair of the Week honor as well., becoming the first pair in Arizona history to claim in the conference’s weekly honor. They are ranked as the second-best pair in the country at No. 4 by collegebeachvb.com.

* This season, Blacker and Alex Parkhurst have played 23 matches together on Court 1 and are 15-8 on the year.

* The pair of Alana Rennie and Grace Cook are 18-6 across all courts on the season and 17-5 at the No. 3 pair position in the lineup. 

* Also playing at a high level are the No. 5 pair of Annie Kost and Miranda Erro. They are 14-6 on the year and 13-6 at the No. 5 spot.

* Recent additions to the lineup have been Kali Uhl and Dilara Gedikoglu at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots and they are 13-0.

* Abby Russell and Hope Shannon are 14-8 at the No. 2 spot in the lineup this season and have won seven of their last ten.

* Caroline White and Kylee Fitzsimmons are 9-3 on the year at the No. 4 spot.

#BearDown