Former Irvine Valley standout women's indoor and beach volleyball players Anna Unke and Alaina Gendale helped their NCAA Division I Cal State Bakersfield beach volleyball team to its best season in program history.
The 2022 Cal State Bakersfield beach finished with a season and new program record for single-season victories. The squad posted an 11-18 record, with 10 losses coming at the hands of ranked foes.
The duo of Unke and Gendale also shined off of the court.
For the second-straight year, both the Roadrunner indoor and beach teams earned the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award.
Annually honoring the nation's volleyball programs that strive for academic excellence, the Team Academic Award celebrates teams that maintain a year-long grade point average (GPA) of 3.30 or higher.
The Roadrunners earned the additional Honor Roll distinction for ranking among the Top 20% of team GPAs in NCAA Division I.
Both Unke and Gendale earned academic awards as first team, Big West Spring Academic All-Conference selections for the beach program.
Unke, a former Crean Lutheran High standout, was named first team all-Orange Empire Conference and all-state championship tournament team honors indoors with the Lasers.
The Lasers were the runner-up in the state tournament in 2019.
She was named first team all-conference in beach with the Lasers in the spring of 2019 and was a three-time conference champion (two times indoors and one time with the beach program).
Unke and Gendale helped Irvine Valley finish third at 2019 California Community College Athletic Association State Championship in Chula Vista.
Gendale and teammate Kendall Nolan qualified individually among the Top 20 pairs in California for the state event in 2019.
