SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Arcadia Titans beach volleyball team defeated the Mountain Pointe Pride 4-1 in a dual on Wednesday, giving the Titans their first winning record in three years.

 

Following a tough loss to Boulder Creek on Monday, the Titans bounced back to defeat the Pride, who had a previous record of 6-1. Arcadia’s No. 2 pair of Elle Overs and Sarah Wiber clinched the win for the Titans in a tight third-set victory. Then, the Titans' No. 1 pair of Riley Satran and Lexi Sweeny finished off the dual, adding another point to Arcadia’s board and making the overall score 4-1.

 

Arcadia started off the match with points coming from Delany Wilson paired with Hannah Walker at the fives and Helene Hart paired with Catlin Teefy at the fours. Wilson and Walker, a young sophomore duo, handily defeated Haley Brownlee and Anna Jackson of Mountain Pointe 21-12 and 21-8, creating momentum for the Titans early on.

 

Mountain Pointe’s head coach Bill Pincus praised Arcadia’s ball control and lack of unforced errors. Pincus said that unforced errors are usually what contributes to a team’s demise.

 

“This is a strong team that played really well,” Pincus said. “We played well at times but made a lot of unforced errors.”

 

Mountain Pointe’s threes team of Bri Lopez and Desi Armstrong took down Arcadia’s Gretchen Rea and Grace Froshey 21-14 and 21-12, putting a point on the board for the Pride. Pincus said his threes team found success when they forced Arcadia to make mistakes and limited their own errors.

 

Satran and Sweeny defeated Mountain Pointe’s Avery Luoma and Sarah Van Horn 21-8 and 22-20. Satran and Sweeny, both experienced beach players, plan to play beach volleyball in college with Satran committed to San Jose State and Sweeny committed to Arizona State.

 

Pincus said the Titans' No. 1 team knows how to effectively put the ball away, making them one of the best teams he has seen all year.

 

Sweeny spoke highly of her team’s fight and praised them for bouncing back from a tough loss on Monday. Sweeny said the loss did not affect her team's play.

 

“We had a lot of energy today which contributed to our success,” Sweeny said. “We’ve been working on shots a lot in practice and those really worked well today.”

 

Arcadia head coach Jackie Bunker said she finally saw her team's hard work in practice pay off. Bunker said the girls have been working on listening to their partner's calls when it comes to shot placement.

 

“We really need to keep working on not hitting the same shot repeatedly even though we had success today,” Bunker said. “If your first shot doesn’t fall, you need to try a different one until one works and try and break the others team’s defense down.”

 

Bunker is extremely pleased with the progress her team has made in such little time. Bunker said her team has now learned the game well enough that they can beat the other team even if it is more athletic.

 

Looking ahead, the Titans will head to the University of Arizona in Tucson to play in the Catbox Classic tournament Saturday.