As the 2023 beach volleyball seasons hits the home stretch, the Arizona Wildcats will head to Stanford University this weekend for the Pac-12 North Invitational. In four matches over two days, the Wildcats will play No. 2 USC, No. 4 UCLA and No. 10 Stanford in addition to Utah.
 
Friday's match against Utah (12:00pm) and Saturday's match against USC (8:00am) will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.
 
The schedule for the week looks like this:
 
Friday, April 7
Arizona at #10 Stanford | 9:00 a.m. PT
Live Stats
 
Arizona vs. Utah | 12:00 p.m. PT
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Live Stats | Stream
 
Saturday, April 8
Arizona vs. #2 USC | 8:00 a.m. PT
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Live Stats | Stream
 
Arizona vs. #4 UCLA | 11:00 a.m. PT
Live Stats
 
News and Notes
* The 2023 season marks the 10th for Arizona head coach Steve Walker at the helm of the Wildcats program. He's the only head coach the program has had since it was started in 2014. Walker's overall record as head coach at Arizona is 175-73.
 
* Last weekend, Arizona went 4-0 with wins over UTEP, Santa Clara, Missouri State and Colorado Mesa.
 
* This weekend will be the first meeting of the season for Arizona with each of the four opponents on deck. The Wildcats are 5-5 all-time against Stanford, 7-0 against Utah, 2-9 versus UCLA and 0-10 against USC.
 
* Arizona's last win over UCLA was on May 1, 2016 in the Pac-12 Tournament.
 
* The Wildcats are 0-2 all-time against Stanford in Palo Alto.
 
* Each of the last five meetings against Utah have ended in a 5-0 result in favor of Arizona.
 
* A look at the record and winning percentage by lineup position this season for Arizona:
Court 1: 13-7 (.650)
Court 2: 13-7 (.650)
Court 3: 17-3 (.850)
Court 4: 17-3 (.850)
Court 5: 16-4 (.800)
Overall: 76-24 (.760)
 
* Super senior Sarah Blacker opted to use her extra year of eligibility and return to the Wildcats in 2023. On April 1 against UTEP, Blacker picked up her 87th career win to set a new Arizona record for individual career victories. The previous record was 86 wins held by Madison Witt, McKenna Witt and Brooke Burling.
 
* This season, Blacker and Alex Parkhurst have played 19 matches together on Court 1 and are 13-6 on the year.  
 
* The pair of Alana Rennie and Grace Cook are 17-3 across all courts on the season and 17-2 at the No. 3 pair position in the lineup. They are ranked as the second-best pair in the country at No. 3 by collegebeachvb.com.
 
* In 19 matches this season, Rennie and Cook have gone to a third set just three.
 
* Also playing at a high level are the No. 5 pair of Annie Kost and Miranda Erro. They are 13-4 on the year and 12-4 at the No. 5 spot.
 
* Recent additions to the lineup have been Kali Uhl and Dilara Gedikoglu at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots and they are 9-0 and have won by a 2-0 margin in eight of those matches.
 
* Abby Russell and Hope Shannon are 13-6 at the No. 2 spot in the lineup this season and have won their last four matches.
 
* Caroline White and Kylee Fitzsimmons are 9-3 on the year at the No. 4 spot.
 
* The 2023 Arizona roster features 10 players listed as seniors, with two of those being transfers – Grace Cook (Missouri State) and Caroline White (TCU).
 
Arizona Individual Wins (Career)
87
Sarah Blacker (2019-Present)
 
86
Madison Witt (2014-17)
McKenna Witt (2014-17)
Brooke Burling (2017-21)
 
81
Natalie Anselmo (2017-21)
 
77
Hailey Devlin (2015-18)