DAVIS, Calif. — After playing its first three duals away from the friendly confines of home, the UC Davis beach volleyball team can leave its bags unpacked this week, welcoming No. 15 Arizona to Northern California for two days of competition at the UC Davis Beach Volleyball Courts. The Aggies and Wildcats meet in a traditional dual on Friday (March 12) at Noon, before joining the "March Madness" spirit and splitting up for a pairs tournament on Saturday (March 13) beginning at 8 a.m.
REMINDER: Due to Yolo County Public Health guidelines and game day protocols, fans are unable to attend home events this season.
THIS WEEK…
WHAT: No. 15 Arizona (5-0) at UC Davis (1-2)
WHEN: Friday, March 12, 2021
TIME: Noon
WHERE: Davis, Calif.
STADIUM: UC Davis Beach Volleyball Courts
VIDEO STREAMING: Big West TV
WHAT: UC Davis - Arizona Pairs Tournament
WHEN: Saturday, March 13, 2021
TIME: 8:00 a.m.
WHERE: Davis, Calif.
STADIUM: UC Davis Beach Volleyball Courts
VIDEO STREAMING: Big West TV
IN THE RANKINGS…
UC Davis is unranked… Arizona enters the week ranked No. 15 in the most recent AVCA Beach Volleyball poll released on March 9.
SERIES NOTES…
The Aggies and the Wildcats have met only once on the sand with Arizona handing UC Davis a 5-0 defeat in Davis on March 11 last season.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS…
Arizona enters the weekend with a perfect 5-0 dual match record this season, posting wins over in-state rival Grand Canyon, Colorado Mesa, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Boise State… The Wildcats have lost only two points in that span to GCU before sweeping its last four opponents… The duo of Sarah Blacker and Alex Parkhurst are 3-0 at No. 1, with Parkhurst and Alana Rennie going 2-0 at the top spot… Brooke Burling is also a perfect 5-0 at the No. 2 spot with three different partners.
AGGIE STORYLINES…
• Arizona marks the fourth Aggie opponent that has either been ranked or receiving votes to start the 2021 campaign.
• UC Davis is fresh off its first win of the season, upsetting a Saint Mary's squad that was receiving votes in the AVCA poll by a 3-2 score.
• The duo of
Rose Holscher and
Madelin Smith at the threes clinched the win with
Paloma Bowman and
Colleen McGuire at the twos and
Jane Seslar and
Alexa Rockas at the fours also posting victories.
• For Bowman, it was her 12th career dual win, placing her just one back of teammate
Heather Reed for the program's all-time lead.
• Earlier in the day Seslar and Rockas extended their fours match to three sets against No. 18 Stanford, becoming only the second Aggie duo to take a set off a Cardinal pair in the program's brief history.
• UC Davis is coming off a 2020 season that saw the Aggies finish 3-5 overall with wins over Santa Clara, Utah, and San Jose State.
• Of the 16 student-athletes who saw action in 2020, 13 of those return for the Aggies in 2021, including the duo of
Rose Holscher and
Alexa Rockas, which shared the team lead with four victories last season.
• Holscher and Rockas' four wins last year at the No. 4 spot in the lineup were the most in a single-season at that position.
• Head Coach
Ali McColloch is in her third season at the helm of the UC Davis program.
• Returning graduate student
Heather Reed is the Aggies' all-time leader in career dual wins with 13, and is also in the process of obtaining her master's degree at UC Davis in public health after graduating with her bachelor's degree in psychology in 2020. (Read more:
https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2020/9/4/aggie-evo-reed-resets-down-the-road-to-career-launch.aspx)
• Junior
Claire Jackson also talked about her virtual summer internship with PepsiCo as part of the Aggie EVO program (Read more:
https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2020/8/25/aggie-evo-jackson-the-right-one-for-unique-pepsico-intern-experience.aspx)
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Over 700 student-athletes across 25 intercollegiate athletics teams, following the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation.
Centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and the Napa Valley, UC Davis is known nationwide as a leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, ranks annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.
UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.
