A night in which the ASU beach volleyball team honored seniors Kwyn Johnson, Mia Rivera, Sydney Palmer, Frances Giedraitis and Halle Harker ended with a 5-0 sweep of Vanguard following a loss to No. 17 Stetson.
It’s the fifth year of existence for Arizona State’s beach volleyball program, but for head coach Brad Keenan, this year’s senior class is likely one he’ll never forget.
“I think they’ve done a lot just to help build it [the program],” Keenan said. “Kwyn took over our social media this year pretty much, so she’s been running that, which has been good, and then Sydney and Mia have both been good leaders to our young kids this year, and then Fran: Fran’s just one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and just an awesome teammate to everybody.”
Following a 4-1 loss to Stetson in their opening match at the PERA Club in Tempe, the Sun Devils bounced back with a 5-0 sweep against Vanguard, where each pairing combined for a perfect 10-0 mark in sets.
The win was the fifth time in the last nine matches that the Sun Devils had completed such a sweep of their opponent.
“I feel overall pretty good about my performance today,” Johnson said. “Obviously, there’s always going to be some errors that need to be cleaned up, but, I’m battling and working hard and I think that’s the most I could ask for.”
“I felt like had a rough start kind of both matches,” Rivera added. “But then just working on a lot of those little things, like just focusing on the key points helped a lot, and I think that’s really improved from between matches.”
More from Devils in Detail
- Sun Devils Primer: Game 2 vs Oklahoma State
- Sun Devil Insight: Quarterback Room
- Arizona State Spotlight: Kenny Dillingham
- Arizona State 2023 Season Opener: Off To A Good Start
- Arizona State vs USC Prediction and Promo (Expect Offensive Fireworks)
Each Sun Devil senior played a role in winning the overall match. Johnson and Rivera assumed their regular role at the No. 1 position while Harker, Giedraitis and Palmer filled in at ASU’s No. 2 and No. 3 lineups.
Palmer would link with No. 3 regular Ellyson Lundberg in the match, a combination that became too lethal for Vanguard’s Dani Erdelatz and Charity Dennis. The Sun Devil pair would cruise with a 21-4 victory in set one before warding off their opponent and winning the match by a score of 21-17 in set two.
Harker and Giedraitis entered as the No. 2 pair against the Lion duo of Kelli Dowell and Hannah Holder. After trading points in the early parts of each set, the Sun Devil seniors would use runs of 14-8 and 14-3 to pull away from their opposition.
Johnson and Rivera would close the sweep for the Sun Devils with consecutive set victories of 21-13 over Kayla Tinker and Gabby Morrison in the No. 1 match.
The team’s high spirits by the end of the night would negate what was a heartbreaking loss for the Sun Devils in their first match of the day.
ASU would force decisive third sets in each of the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 matches. However, late rallies from an experienced Hatters team would allow them to snatch each final set, a fate that proved to be the difference in their 4-1 victory.
Lundberg and Katelyn Carballo would pick up ASU’s lone match victory with a 21-19, 23-21 win over Samantha Harris and Rachel Noble.
“I think this afternoon, the first match, we were kind of up and down,” Keenan said. “We had one really good game and then one really bad game, so I think once we can be a little more consistent, I think we can start beating some of these other teams. And then tonight, we didn’t make mistakes. We kind of just made them put the ball away if they could, but they didn’t, and just took advantage.”
The Sun Devils (10-13) will now hit the road again next weekend, as they’ll travel for a tournament in Hawaii before returning to Tempe for a second matchup against Arizona.
Although more tough competition will be on the horizon, tonight’s matches gave ASU’s seniors a moment to cherish and reflect on what their time as a Sun Devil has meant to them.
“This program has meant a lot,” Johnson said. “I can’t believe I didn’t cry when we did our little Senior Night walk. I’ve just met the most amazing people. These girls are amazing, the coaches have been great, and I really can’t express how much I love them.”
Next: ASU Beach Volleyball: Sun Devils cruise in New Mexico Tournament
“This program has meant a bunch to me,” Rivera concurred. “I’ve just grown with it so much each year, getting better and better and just helping me not only with volleyball, but life as well.”
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.