TUCSON, Ariz. - UTEP Beach Volleyball clinched successive sweeps Thursday afternoon against Park Gilbert and Benedictine Mesa at Bear Down Beach. With these victories, the Miners now stand at a 4-6 record, matching their win total from the previous year.
"Pretty clean and decisive wins over Park and Benedictine out here in sunny Arizona," head coach Ben Wallis said. "We've been working really hard on implementing some new tactics and systems with the girls and it showed in the matches today. We wanted not to just get wins, but we wanted to do it by playing really good, clean, physical, attacking style of volleyball."
Match 1: UTEP 5, Park 0
The Miners delivered a consistent and dominant performance against Park, sweeping all five pairs and holding the Buccaneers to no more than 15 points in each set.
Results (Order of Finish: 3, 2, 5*, 1, 4)
1) Krista Paegle/Paulina Acuna (UTEP) def. Druxman/Motes (PARK) 21-15, 21-12
2) Madison Hill/Summer McDonough (UTEP) def. Baker/Gary (PARK) 21-13, 21-13
3) Katie Martin/Marian Ovalle (UTEP) def. Van Winkle/Goldsmith (PARK) 21-12, 21-12
4) Mila Popovic/Ema Uskokovic (UTEP) def. Johnson/Bauer (PARK) 21-12, 21-12
5) Adriana Oporto/Alexis Massey (UTEP) def. Pearson/Turk (PARK) 21-14, 21-13
Match 2: UTEP 5, Benedictine 0
UTEP secured a second sweep of the day by overcoming Benedictine in 10 sets. Impressively, UTEP's 3's pair, Martin/Ovalle, held the Redhawks to a mere 11 points combined, while the 4's pair of Popovic/Uskokovic allowed only 16 points in total.
Results (Order of Finish: 3, 4, 1*, 2, 5)
1) Krista Paegle/Paulina Acuna (UTEP) def. Wallace/Bartel (BEN) 21-13, 21-15
2) Madison Hill/Summer McDonough (UTEP) def. Carling/Hicks (BEN) 21-11, 21-17
3) Katie Martin/Marian Ovalle (UTEP) def. Lopex/Brytkowska (BEN) 21-7, 21-4
4) Mila Popovic/Ema Uskokovic (UTEP) def. Ely/Patton (BEN) 21-8, 21-8
5) Adriana Oporto/Alexis Massey (UTEP) def. Drollinger/Memory (BEN) 21-16, 21-17
UP NEXT
UTEP goes up against Mesa CC at 10 am and Park University at 12pm MDT on Mar. 15 in Mesa, Ariz.
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