Nov. 20, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. – A fitting send-off for the Sun Devil Volleyball seniors was in order Saturday night as ASU rallied up to top the Washington State Cougars in four with a 25-20, 19-25, 25-21 and 25-19 win to close out the 2010 home schedule. The win places ASU at 12-16 overall and 6-9 in Pac-10 play while the Cougars fall to 6-20 overall and 0-16 in conference play.
Set one saw the Cougars come out clawing with a .220 with Meagan Ganzer leading the way with five kills for a .312 average. ASU wasn’t about to be topped though as the seniors shone in the set with Sarah Reaves crushing eight kills for a .375 average as the Sun Devils battled off four tie scores and two lead changes to take off with a 25-20 win.
WSU wasn’t going home without a fight though as they swung a nasty .316 clip with Ganzer stepping up huge again with 11 kills for the Cougars for a ridiculous .524 average. WSU’s three blocks also helped to keep ASU off-tilt as they could only muscle .103 attack percentage, though Malia Marquardt pushed it up a notch, hitting .400 with three kills to lead ASU. The Cougars had it in the bag though as they sailed to a 25-19 win to tie it up 1-1 at the break.
With renewed vigor, A State returned to the court in the third set as young’uns Alexis Pinson and Danica Mendivil came out locked and loaded, killing six and five respectively as they put ASU back on a winning track. Cat Highmark quarterbacked the Sun Devils, collecting 15 assists for a .517 average while leading ASU to a .364 attack percentage. WSU battled back for six tie scores, but the effort fell just short as ASU took a 25-21 win.
Four proved to be the magic number for the Sun Devils as they let the seniors off the leash again to take control with Sarah Johnson leading the defense with five digs and Sarah Reaves leading the offense with six kills and a .385 attack percentage to shut the door on the match with a 25-19 win.
The win concludes the Sun Devils home slate for the 2010 season with the final week of play coming up next week with ASU traveling to the Bay Area to take on Stanford and Cal next Wednesday, November 24 and Friday, November 26 with both matches set to start at 7 p.m. PT.