Nov. 2, 2002
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- The scratched, they clawed and they looked to be closer to regaining their early-season form, but it wasn't enough as the Washington Huskies picked up their third consecutive win over a ranked opponent with a 3-1 victory over the 19th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils Saturday evening at Wells Fargo Arena. Game scores were 30-27, 30-27, 27-30, 30-22 in favor of the Huskies.
Washington, coming off a pair of three-game sweeps of the then No. 13 UCLA Bruins and No. 14 Arizona Wildcats last night, hit a solid .293 in the match to improve to 15-7 overall and leap-frogged ASU in the Pac-10 standing with a 7-6 mark. ASU is in the midst of its longest losing streak of the year, dropping its third straight to fall to 10-7 overall and 6-6 in conference action.
ASU junior outside hitter Juliana Escobar (Brasilia, Brazil) continued her solid play in her first year as a Sun Devil, picking up her 12th double-double of the year and her ninth 20+ kill match with 24 kills and 15 digs in the loss. Making her first start as a Sun Devil, freshman Sarah Watkins (Mishawaka, Ind.) was solid while filling the void at the second outside hitter position. Watkins picked up her first career double-double with 11 kills and 22 digs. Senior libero Brittany Arnett (Mesa) recorded a career-best 22 digs in the loss in her second start of the season.
The Huskies were led by the 21 kills from outside hitter Paige Benjamin and 19 from Sanja McDonald. Senior setter Gretchen Maurer paced the Husky offense by dishing out 60 assists in the four-game win and libero Candace Lee anchored the UW defense with 19 digs. The Huskies out-blocked Arizona State 14.5-5.0, and out-hit the Devils .293-.188.
The Sun Devils return to action next weekend with a pair of matches at sixth-ranked Stanford (Nov. 8) and at California (Nov. 9). ASU returns home in two weeks to conclude the home portion of its 2002 schedule with Oregon State (Nov. 15) and Oregon (Nov. 16). The Oregon match will air live on KAZ-TV (Cox Cable 13) and will be senior night for Julia Leddy, Brittany Arnett and Fernanda Habiger, as well as the final match for 14th-year head coach Patti Snyder-Park. --Sun Devil Volleyball--