Beach volleyball: Xavier makes case as D-I contender with win over Casteel

Xavier Prep's beach volleyball team on Wednesday showed it may be a force in the 6A state playoff tournament.

The No. 4 Gators defeated the No. 7 Casteel Colts, 4-1 to improve to 9-1 on the season. The Colts now are 6-3.

The Gators' only loss came to the Division I No. 1-ranked Sandra Day O'Connor, the defending D-I state champions, in late February. They also were ranked behind No. 2 Queen Creek and No. 3 Highland as of Wednesday's AIA rankings, which will be updated on Thursday.

Xavier coach Tim McHale knew the Colts weren't a team to consider lightly.

"I was a nervous wreck all week looking at this game," McHale said. "They're growing and they have such a great program for the future. These young teams don't care about history, don't care about tradition and just only find ways to grind. Fortunately, we found our footing after a rough match one, in which they beat us very well. It was a whole group effort today."

The first match featured Casteel's Audrey Solomonson and Myra Michalski facing Xavier's Elle Freeland and Abby Gliss. The first set went to Casteel, 24-22 and the Gators pair won the next two to take that match, 24-22 and 15-12.

Xavier looked to Leighton Fig and Emma Robescu in another match vs. Casteel's Sahara Griggs and Paige Thompson. The Casteel pair won the match after the Xavier pair had to forfeit the match.

Casteel's sophomore Kamille Scott and junior Emma Wakefield faced off against Xavier junior Holly Matchinsky and senior Finlay Workman. The Xavier pair cruised to a 2-0 win (21-10, 21-8). In another match, Casteel's sophomore Bailey Farnes and senior Jadyn Orava faced Xavier's sophomore Kylie Barr and senior Kaelyn Putz. The Xavier pair sealed the win, winning both sets, 21-6, 21-15.

Casteel's freshman Fara Brunson and sophomore Ava Kretschman faced Xavier's sophomore Kate MacDonald and senior Trinity Tran in another match, with MacDonald and Tran winning 2-0 (21-11, 21-16).

"I'm not playing for myself, but also for my teammates," said Tran. "The match went really well, I'm glad with the outcome with my match, but also blessed with my teammates for getting the job done. This is a reflection of how much we grown and what's to come for this season."

Xavier will have a small break until their next match against Hamilton on April 8. Casteel's next match also is against Hamilton on April 3.

McHale was satisfied with his team's result, but realizes the Gators likely will have to get past O'Connor if it is to win a state title.

"O'Connor is such an amazing program," said McHale. "They've done an amazing job of rebuilding, and they've knocked us out of our perch, and our job is to take that back from them. It'll be interesting come playoffs if we meet again."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Beach volleyball: Xavier makes case as D-I contender with win over Casteel