The Division II Beach Volleyball Pairs state playoffs started on Tuesday night at Casteel High School with the top-seeded Salpointe team of Andrea Owens and Brandy Kishbaugh attempting to give the Lancers another championship.
Current University of Arizona standouts Alex Parkhurst and Abby Russell won the D-II Pairs championship in 2019 and the Salpointe pair of Peyton Lewis and Abby Russel took second in 2017.
Owens and Kishbaugh had some difficulty in the first round but pulled through with a 2-1 victory and the team had relative ease in the quarterfinals later in the night to set up a seminal battle with Katie Call and Morgan Hains of Canyon del Oro,
The Dorado pair pulled off a 2-1 win in the first round and then stunned the No. 4 team from Coconino by coming back to take that match 2-1.
During team play, Salpointe beat Canyon del Oro 5-0 in April so this will be a rematch between the two top pairs from Southern Arizona in the field. There are no pairs from the Tucson area in D-I action which gets underway on Wednesday night.
Salpointe and Canyon del Oro will face off at 5 p.m. and the match guarantees a spot for a Southern Arizona team in the state final slated to begin right after the semifinal matches on Thursday night.
D-II BEACH VOLLEYBALL PAIRS AT CASTEEL
TUESDAY, MAY 18
FIRST ROUND
No. 1 Brandy Kishbaugh/Andrea Owens (Salpointe) over G. Abrams/M. Kohoutek (Fountain Hills), (19-21, 21-20, 15-8)
Katie Call/Morgan Hains (CDO) over A. Mancilla/A. Acosta (Desert Edge), (21-19, 18-21, 15-11)
QUARTERFINALS
No. 1 Brandy Kishbaugh/Andrea Owens (Salpointe) over A. Howard/A. Dunn (Deer Valley), (21-18, 21-10)
Katie Call/Morgan Hains (CDO) over No. 4 B. Parker/R. Curtis (Coconino), (14-21, 21-18, 15-8)
THURSDAY, MAY 20
SEMIFINALS
No. 1 Brandy Kishbaugh/Andrea Owens (Salpointe) vs. Katie Call/Morgan Hains (CDO), 5 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Salpointe/Canyon del Oro winner vs. TBD, 6:15 p.m.
FOLLOW @ANDYMORALES8 ON TWITTER
Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014, he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017, a 2019 AZ Education News award winner and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girls wrestling. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Andy was named an Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019 and he is a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
Recommended for you
