TUCSON – UTEP Beach Volleyball opened the day with a pair of losses to #18 Arizona and Colorado Mesa Friday afternoon in the Cactus Classic at Bear Down Beach.
"Tough day in the beach volleyball world for the Miners," Head Coach Ben Wallis said, "against two good opponents in #18 Arizona and Colorado Mesa, who is the defending 2022 NCAA DII champions. Both opponents have completely different styles of play and while we competed well in both matches, we came up short in both but showed a lot of progress and growth against really good beach volleyball teams."
UTEP had good individual pairs that played well: Katie Martin and Krista Paegel lost both matches, but only by the slimmest of margins. They showed good skill playing together and will only get better in the one-spot as the year moves forward.
Ema Uskokovic and Sara Pustahija played in the twos, both matches, and showed good stretches of physical and athletic play but got out matched in both by better, more experienced beach players. "The future is bright for those two," Wallis said.
Serena Patterson and Savannah Marenco also showed signs of being a tough pair to deal with as the year moves forward. The pair lost two close matches as well but showed some positive movement.
Game 1: No. 18 Arizona 5, UTEP 0
Taking on a ranked team, the Miners fell behind early with Arizona taking the first sets on all five courts. The Wildcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Rennie and Cook dropped a result at No. 3 pairs.
Arizona clinched the match via a 21-18, 21-12 win at No. 4 pairs by Fitzsimmons and White over Patterson and Marenco.
Uskokovic and Pustahija were the lone pair to go to three sets.
Results (Order of Finish: 3, 5, 4*, 1, 2)
1) Parkhurst/Blacker (UA) def. Paegle/Martin (UTEP) 19-21, 19-21
2) Russell/Shannon (UA) def. Uskokovic/Pustahija (UTEP) 10-21, 21-18, 6-15
3) Rennie/Cook (UA) def. Aaliyah Austin/Paulina Acuna (UTEP) 9-21, 12-21
4) Fitzsimmons/White (UA) def. Marenco/Patterson (UTEP) 18-21, 12-21
5) Kost/Erro (UA) def. Madison Hill/ Marian Ovalle (UTEP) 10-21, 14-21
Game 2: Colorado Mesa 5, UTEP 0
Playing their second match of the day, the Miners dropped the opening set in three of five matches with Austin/Acuna and Marenco/Patterson bucking the trend with a first set win at No. 3 and 4 pairs.
CMU scored the first point of the match with a 12-21, 21-18, 15-13 win on court four over the UTEP pair of Marenco and Patterson. Three pairs forced a third set and despite the battle, the Miners came up just a hair short from a match win for the No. 1 and 4 pairs.
Results (Order of Finish: 4, 2, 5*, 3, 1)
1) Schmidt/Lachemann (CMU) def. Paegle/Martin (UTEP) 18-21, 21-13, 11-15
2) Spitzer/Johnson (CMU) def. Uskokovic/Pustahija (UTEP) 17-21, 13-21
3) Hall/Spesser (CMU) def. Austin/Acuna (UTEP) 21-15, 13-21, 4-15
4) Wedhorn/VanDeList (CMU) def. Marenco/Patterson (UTEP) 21-14, 18-21, 13-15
5) Ott/Peters (CMU) def. Hill/Ovalle (UTEP) 14-21, 17-21
"Daniel (Foo) and I are looking forward to competing against two Pac-12 teams tomorrow and being able to drive back to El Paso with clearer expectations," Wallis said. "We'll know how we can make this team better and where we set its sights in training for the end of the year tournament with Conference USA along with the trajectory of our young program."
UP NEXT
The Miners will take on Oregon at 10 a.m. and (RV) Arizona State at 1 p.m. MT on day two of the Cactus Classic.
For complete coverage of UTEP Beach Volleyball, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @utepbeachvb (Instagram) and @UTEPBeachVB (Twitter) or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com.
