ASU Beach Volleyball: ASU rolls Stanford for biggest program win, splits Pac-12 South Tournament

ASU took downed No. 2 Stanford for the programs biggest win

TEMPE, Ariz. — Look no further than a pair of valley products to tip No. 10 Arizona State women’s beach volleyball past No. 2 Stanford, 3-2, on the first day of the Pac-12 South Tournament.

Senior Taryn Ames, who attended Desert Vista high school of Phoenix, and graduate Lexi Sweeney, who attended Arcadia of Scottsdale, buried Stanford for the highest-ranked win in ASU women’s beach volleyball history.

“It’s really nice just having full trust in your partner,” Ames said following the set point. “I had full trust in Lexi, everything that she was doing, and even though it was super loud and energetic, all I see and hear is me and Lexi on the court.”

Sweeney reciprocated the trust, knowing either has the tools to make a play and fight for each point. “They weren’t just going at me or going at Taryn, they were going back and forth,” she said. “It’s really nice to know that no matter who it’s going to, we can pull out the win.”

Ames and Sweeney were the final pairing to finish for the Sun Devils, in a pivotal matchup.

1. Daniella Kensinger and Anya Pemberton (ASU) def. Hodel/Rockwell (STAN) 21-18, 21-11
2. Arden Besecker and Ava Williamson (ASU) def. Sorra/Wilson (STAN) 15-21, 21-17, 15-13
3. Taryn Ames and Lexi Sweeney (ASU) def. Belardi/Vincent (STAN) 21-19, 15-21, 15-12
4. Hoffman/Reilly (STAN) def. Ava Haughy and Ava Kirunchyk (ASU) 25-23, 21-18
5. Gusarova/Morris (STAN) def. Rylie Kael and Carys Thomas (ASU) 21-18, 21-18

“I’m just really proud of us,” head coach Kristen Rohr said. “We talked this morning after our loss to UCLA about how we’re right there. There’s definitely things that we need to fine tune to be able to compete and beat the best teams in the country and we did that. We didn’t get rattled by them and we pushed back.”

We knew it was going to be a fight. We knew every team that’s here this weekend is a great team. I’m just really proud of how they fought and stayed confident. The feeling before going into that match, as they would say, the vibes were high. It’s a newfound confidence that they have hopefully realized what we’ve known.”

Having gone to a third set, Ames and Sweeney were forced to keep mental fortitude while extinguishing each ball.

“I think we mixed up our offense as well,” Sweeney said. “We were running a bunch of different plays, we were going behind, we were pushing it out to the pin, and I think that really helped us as well.”

“If we lost a point we didn’t dwell on that ball,” Ames said. “It was the next one, it didn’t matter. Also not really worrying about the score, just focus on each ball at each point and just play our game that we know how to play.”

Prior to the Sun Devils upset, they dropped their first match of the season to UCLA, 5-0. The Bruins swept all pairings. The Bruins then lost to Stanford, 3-2.

On the second day, the Sun Devils dropped the first match on Sunday to the Golden Bears, 3-2, but closed out the weekend with a win over rival Arizona, 3-2.

The Sun Devils, 8-2 overall and 2-2 in conference play, split the weekend after falling to top-seeded UCLA, No. 7 Cal and taking down the No.17 Arizona Wildcats.

The three ranked wins earned the Sun Devils No. 11 in the coaches poll and the No. 1 duo of sophomore Daniella Kensinger and junior Anya Pemberton received Pac-12 Pair of the Week.

The pairing went 3-1 over the weekend (No. 2 Stanford, No. 7 Cal, No. 19 Arizona), winning each match in straight sets. Kensinger and Pemberton are the first pairing to earn the honors since Ashley Wenz and Oluoma Okaro in 2019.

The program will head to the west coast for the Long Beach State University Tournament, where it will take on Pepperdine, host No. 7 LBSU, CSUN and Texas from March 15-16.