Nov. 8, 2002
STANFORD, Calif. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Behind a one-two punch from All-Americans Logan Tom and Ogonna Nnamani, he No. 4 Stanford Cardinal made easy work of the 23rd-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils with a three-game sweep Friday night in Pac-10 Volleyball action at Maples Pavilion. Game scores were 30-19, 30-20, 30-18 in favor of Stanford.
The win improves the Cardinal to 23-3 overall and 13-2 in Pac-10 play. Coming off a 3-2 victory over previous No. 1 and undefeated USC last weekend, the Cardinal picked up their ninth straight victory. ASU extended its losing streak to a season-high four matches. With the loss ASU slips to 10-8 overall and 6-7 in Pac-10 play. After finishing the first half of the conference slate with an impressive 6-3 mark, ASU has not won since defeating Oregon State (10/19) in four games.
Tom, the 2002 AVCA Player of the Year and a prominent member of the USA National Team, torched the Devils with 18 kills and nine digs in the victory. The reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week hit .654 in the match with only one attack error on 26 swings. Nnamani, the 2001 AVCA Freshman of the Year, added 13 kills and a scorching .765 attack percentage to help down the Sun Devils. Stanford hit .485 as a team with only eight attack errors on 103 total swings.
The Sun Devils were led by a solid performance from junior outside hitter Juliana Escobar. The transfer from Barton County CC and the 2001 AVCA Junior College Player of the Year recorded 17 kills for her 15th match this year with double-digits in kills. Senior libero Brittany Arnett anchored the defense with eight digs while making her third start of the year. Junior middle blocker Jodi Smith also had a solid match with eight kills on a .400 hitting percentage (8-2-15).
Arizona State will be back in action tomorrow night at Haas Pavilion on the California-Berkeley campus to take on the Cal Bears at 7 p.m. (PST). The Sun Devils carry a nine-match winning streak against the Bears on the road into the match. --Sun Devil Volleyball--