ASU Beach Volleyball: Sun Devils prepare for TCU Tournament

TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky performs on the field during the first half of the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky performs on the field during the first half of the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

The ASU beach volleyball team will run into a rematch with No. 8 Cal Poly and tough matches against No. 14 TCU and No. 18 Tulane in Fort Worth this weekend.

The grind won’t stop for the ASU beach volleyball team.

After an opening weekend that saw matchups against No.1 USC, No. 14 Cal Poly and the defending indoor volleyball champions in Nebraska, it looked like the Sun Devils had played through their most difficult part of their schedule.

However, their challenges will only become more difficult, as they’ll travel to take on three opponents all ranked in the AVCA Coaches’ Top 20 Poll in the “Fight in the Fort” Tournament at Texas Christian University.

At 9 a.m. MT Friday morning, the Sun Devils will square off in a rematch against the Cal Poly Mustangs.

In the first matchup, the Sun Devils won both the No. 3 and No. 4 matchups, as the Katelyn Carballo/Ellyson Lundberg and Katie Cross/Cierra Flood duos stood out as Arizona State’s most consistent pairs thus far.

The Sun Devils would fall in a lopsided affair in the No.1 game, but close points decided the affairs of the No. 2 and the No. 5 games.

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If Arizona State is able to solidify their No. 2 team and freshmen Samantha Plaster and Kate Baldwin can rekindle the chemistry they had in their first two matches last weekend, the Sun Devils could very well be in position again to pull off the upset.

ASU will then take on their first back-end of a double header this season when they take on Tulane at noon.

Last season, the Green Wave posted a 24-13 overall record, the best in school history. However, they went 4-10 when matching against their own conference.

The Green Wave are led by sophomores Kaylie McHugh and Tarin Mergener, who recorded 54 combined wins last season. The two are expected to lead the team this year after Mergener was selected to the CCSA All-Tournament team last year with an overall record of 27-10.

In last season’s matchup with the Green Wave, the Sun Devils struggled in a 4-1 loss.

So far, Tulane has not played a game in the regular season. It’ll be up to Arizona State to use their game experience and try to force Tulane into uncomfortable movements with new lineups this season.

At 11 a.m Saturday., the Sun Devils will then face the tournament hosts, Texas Christian.

So far, the Horned Frogs have gotten off to a strong start to the season, only giving up two games in wins over Houston Baptist, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Louisiana Monroe. Their one loss of the season came from a 4-1 decision at the hands of No.11 Florida International.

The team is led by second-year coach Hector Gutierrez, who is looking elevate his team to national prominence after going 18-8 in his first season last year.

Last season, the Sun Devils and Horned Frogs faced off once in Malibu, California, and again in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU would win the first match 3-2, and Arizona State would win the second match 3-2.

Next: ASU Beach Volleyball: Sun Devils finish 1-2 in Sun Devil Challenge

Although ASU doesn’t have the same exact pieces from last year’s team, they have the experience of playing in a hostile environment. They hope it will help them as they’ll look to knock off TCU in Fort Worth for the second year in a row.