GLENDALE, Ariz. – Vanguard won at all five positions against Benedictine to conclude the opening weekend of play in the 2025 beach volleyball season.
The Lions won four of the five matches in straight sets and improved to 2-1 on the season. The Redhawks fell to 0-2.
Cassie Smits Van Oyen and Gianna Pecile opened the proceedings with a dominant 21-7, 21-15 victory over Sophie Drollinger and Ella Burton at the fours. The twos pair of Paige Cutwright and Madison Arnold nailed down a 21-16, 21-15 victory over Amaya Evans and Annika Wallace to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
At the fives, the Logan Daniels and Natalie Hill partnership was too much for Anna Brytkowska and Haley Lopez to handle, as the Lions earned the 21-13, 21-14 triumph.
With the match result secured, the two teams played out the match at the threes and ones.Â
VU went up 4-0 when the threes tandem of Katie Alexander and Anne Mayfield won a narrow 23-21 first set before handing Daisy Motes and Megan Hicks a 21-16 defeat in the second.
Emma Galloway and Thea Snider went 3-0 on the weekend, overcoming a first set loss to Kylie Bartel and Taylor Erickson before dispatching the Redhawks duo 21-16 and 15-13 for the comeback victory.
What Was Said?: "Our program relies on adaptation and today was an excellent example of these ladies making the appropriate changes," said Head Coach Kris Dorn. "It's a great sign for our future on how we grew from yesterday to today. We do hard things and we were rewarded both with the process and the result today."
What's Next?: The Lions return to action on Friday, February 21 with a pair of matches in Malibu against Pepperdine at 9:00 a.m. and California at 11:00 a.m.
