Sept. 7, 2002
COLUMBIA, S.C. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State outside hitter Juliana Escobar recorded 25 kills and 15 digs to help lead the Sun Devil Volleyball team to a 3-2 upset of 13th-ranked Pacific Saturday morning at the South Carolina Volleyball Classic. Game scores were 30-28, 29-31, 30-21, 24-30, 15-12.
The win evened ASU's season record at 1-1 after stumbling in the season opener Friday night in a 3-1 loss to preseason No. 26 South Carolina. The victory over the 13th-ranked Tigers is the first by a Sun Devil squad over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 19 Stanford in 2000.
Escobar, the 2001 AVCA Junior College Player of the Year, has been everything that ASU expected in her first matches as a Sun Devil, averaging 5.11 kills and 3.67 digs a game through the first two matches. Escobar (Sobradinho DF, Brazil) also added five service aces and two solo blocks giving her 32.0 points. Both the 25 kills and 32.0 points are the most by a Sun Devil since the NCAA adopted the rally scoring system last year.
Senior Julia Leddy (Mesa, Ariz.) and junior Jodi Smith (St. Johns, Ariz.) stepped up to both contribute key performance in the middle. Leddy and Smith recorded 14 kills apiece, and only one night after combining for one total block, the duo combined for five of ASU's eight total blocks vs. the Tigers. Led by junior libero Courtney Blocher's (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 16 digs, the ASU defense had five players with double-digits in digs. Junior setter Cheryl Anglin (Queen Creek, Ariz.) notched her 22nd career match with 50 or more assists (59) and now is only 31 assists away from cracking the top five in school history.
Pacific was led by 2001 AVCA second-team All-American Jennifer Joines who had a match-high 28 kills and 33.5 points. The Tigers out-hit the Devils in the match .218 to .195, but the difference was ASU hitting .391 in the deciding game five. ASU also outplayed Pacific on defense, winning the dig battle 79-64.
ASU will complete play in the Carolina Classic this afternoon with a 5 p.m. (EST) match against Creighton. (0-2). --Sun Devil Volleyball--