Sept. 28, 2001
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Led by sophomore All-American outside hitter April Ross' 17 kills and nine digs, the fifth-ranked USC women's volleyball team was able to hold-off Arizona State for a 3-0 (30-14, 30-16, 31-29) win despite the Sun Devils' last-minute comeback attempt in Pac-10 volleyball action at the Lyon Center Friday night.
The win moved the nationally ranked Women of Troy to 7-1 on the year and 2-0 in Pac-10 play. The Sun Devils lost their second straight match to even their season record at 5-5 and dropped to 1-2 in Pac-10 play. Arizona State has not won a match against the perennial nationally ranked Trojans since a series sweep in 1995. The 3-0 victory at the hands of USC was the first three-game match ASU has lost this year.
In addition to the solid match from Ross, freshman Keao Burdine added 10 kills (.286), two aces, 12 digs and three blocks. Senior Jennifer Pahl led USC with a .500 (6-1-10) attack percentage and sophomore Katie Olsovsky posted a match-best four blocks.
Arizona State did not have a player with double digits in kills, but were led for the eighth time this year by senior outside hitter Jami Coughlin (Glendale, Ariz.). Coughlin contributed nine kills and had a match-best 17 digs. Coughlin now has seven matches this year with double-digits in digs and with 1,271 in her career continues to inch up the ASU career record list, already ranked fifth in school history. Sophomore setter Cheryl Anglin (Queen Creek, Ariz.) paced the ASU offense with 21 assists.
The Trojans experienced little difficulty in the first two games, claiming 30-14 and 30-16 wins while hitting for a combined .333 attack percentage and holding the Sun Devils to -.026 in game one and .047 in game two.
Down 2-0 in the match, Arizona State stunned USC by taking the first lead in game three and maintaining the advantage to 9-8. A kill by Trojan freshman Alicia Robinson knotted the score for the first time (9-9) and USC used a 5-0 run to earn its first lead of the game. But the Devils responded with a 6-2 run of their own to tie the score, 15-15.
USC trailed by no more than three points in the game, but continued to play catch-up with Arizona State. The teams tied the score at 27, 28 and at 29 apiece until the Trojans finally finished the match with consecutive kills by Ross and Burdine to take the game 31-29 and seal the match victory.
Arizona State will try to bounce back Saturday night with a 7 p.m. match against the No. 8 UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion. The Sun Devils enter the match with the nationally ranked Bruins carrying a 10-match losing streak in the head-to-head series.
USC def. Arizona State 30-14,30-16,31-29
Arizona State (5-5, 1-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Coughlin, Jami 9-1-3, Akporiaye, Alicia 6-0-0, Mehlhorn, Kim 5-0-0, Smith, Jodi 5-1-2, Stephens, Mandy 4-0-0, Leddy, Julia 3-0-1, Anglin, Cheryl 2-0-0, Habiger, Fernanda 0-0-2, Blocher, Courtney 0-1-0, Totals 34-3-5.0. (Assists) - Anglin, Cheryl 21. (Dig leaders) - Coughlin, Jami 17, Mehlhorn, Kim 7
USC (7-1, 2-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Ross, April 17-0-0, Burdine, Keao 10-2-3, Pahl, Jennifer 6-0-2, Robinson, Alicia 5-0-1, Lantz, Kelli 4-0-1, Killian, Lauren 3-0-2, Olsovsky, Katie 2-0-4, Lindquist, Tracy 2-0-0, Adams, Emily 1-0-0, Mariani, Julie 0-1-0, Totals 50-3-9.0. (Assists) - Lindquist, Tracy 21, Anderson, Toni 18. (Dig leaders) - Burdine, Keao 12, Ross, April 9, Lindquist, Tracy 8
--Sun Devil Volleyball--