#12 Sand Devils Headed to Wildcat Spring Challenge

TEMPE – After a strong week at home, No. 12 Sun Devil Beach Volleyball heads down south for the Wildcat Spring Challenge in Tucson. 

The tournament acts as a mid-season Big 12 tournament, with matchups with conference foes Arizona, No. 1 TCU and Utah. The tournament will feature two rematches for the Sand Devils, who will face off against Pepperdine and Arizona (5-0 win on 3/26) on Friday and TCU (4-1 loss on 2/21) and Utah on Saturday. The duals will see all five pairs play at once.

How to Follow
There will be live scoring for the duals. Fans can also follow along on Twitter (formerly X) at @SunDevilBeachVB and on Instagram at @sundevilbeachvb.

Sun Devil Outlook
No. 12 Arizona State (14-8)

• The Sand Devils went 5-0 last week, taking down Arizona, UAB, No. 19 Washington, UTEP, and South Carolina. They picked up three sweeps and posted their second five-game winning streak of the season. Four ASU pairs went undefeated during the week. 
• No. 3 pair Tori Clement and Kendall Whitmarsh extended their win streak to nine matches. They now tied for third for longest win streak in Sun Devil history for an individual but are tied for the longest by a pair together. They are also 15-7 individually, and hold a 10-2 record as a pair. Their 15 wins each lead the team. 
• ASU picked up its sixth ranked win of the season last week against UW. This is the second straight season the Sun Devils have surpassed five ranked wins (10 in 2024). 
• The Sand Devils remain undefeated against unranked opponents under head coach Kristen Glattfelder. 
• The dual against TCU on Saturday will be the 300th dual in program history.

Opponent Outlook
Pepperdine (11-8)

• The Waves went 3-1 over the weekend at the WCC Midseason Challenge. They picked up wins over Portland, Saint Mary's and San Francisco before falling to No. 3 LMU. 
• Pepperdine has faced off against five ranked teams this season, and has lost to all of them. 
• The squad went 22-16 in 2024. In the WCC Championships, they went 3-2, losing to then-No. 9 LMU twice.
• The Sun Devils are 1-3 against the Waves all-time, dating back to 2017, with ASU's only win coming last season, when it beat Pepperdine 4-1 in March.

Arizona (14-7)

• After falling to ASU 5-0 on Wednesday, Arizona rebounded, going 3-0 at the Utah Beach Classic. The team swept UC Davis, then picked up 3-2 victories over Oregon and Utah. 
• The Wildcats are 0-6 against ranked opponents this season.
• ASU is 10-18 against the Wildcats dating back to 2014. The Sun Devils have won six out of the last eight matchups, including a 5-0 sweep last week in Tempe.

No. 1 TCU (15-3)

• TCU went 3-0 at the Death Volley Invitational over the weekend, picking up three ranked wins and taking down No. 1 UCLA 3-0. TCU became the new top-ranked team in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll.
• The Horned Frogs have a 13-match winning streak, with their most recent loss coming at the Outrigger Classic in Hawaii at the beginning of the season. 
• The Sand Devils are 3-4 against the Horned Frogs all-time. TCU has won the last three duals between the two teams, including a 4-1 victory over the Devils earlier this season.

Utah (17-7)

• The Utes went 3-1 at the Utah Beach Classic, taking down UC Davis, Boise State and Oregon. No. 2 pair Langley Griffin and Ellyn Collins went undefeated over the weekend. 
• Utah is 0-3 against ranked teams so far this season.
• The squad went 19-16 in 2024, with a 0-6 record in Pac-12 play. They won their first game in the Pac-12 Tournament, but back-to-back losses to No. 1 USC and No. 12 Washington ended the Utes' season. 
• The Sun Devils hold a 3-0 record against Utah all-time, dating back to 2019. Five of those victories have been straight sweeps, including the last two.