TEMPE, Ariz.—The No. 16 Arizona State volleyball team opens the 2015 season in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Friday and Saturday at the Falcon Classic, hosted by Air Force at the Academy’s Cadet East Gym.
The Sun Devils will take on Northeastern on Friday at 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT, and on Saturday ASU will face off against New Mexico State at 11 a.m. PT/Noon MT, followed by a match against host Air Force at 6:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. MT. The match against the Falcons will be live streamed via the Mountain West Network.
“I think the opening weekend is this nice weekend for us to get some things figured out, especially given that they’re some uncertainties still with our lineup, so that’s going to give us a nice opportunity to look at some different things,” head coach Jason Watson said. “I think New Mexico State is a very, very nice team, and we will have our first opportunity to play Air Force to round out the weekend.”
This season, the Sun Devils return their entire starting lineup, and welcome six newcomers to the roster.
“I think with as many athletes as we have returning, it’s optimistic to think that the goal should be to be better than last year,” Watson said. “The NCAA second round was nice, but I think this group really wants to go further than that. They want to play into the second weekend of the tournament, the Sweet 16. They want to go deeper into the tournament. I think that’s a really nice goal, and to do that would mean that we’ve done something that hasn’t been done at ASU or to play that deep into the tournament since the tournament was expanded to 64. That’s a good goal and that’s what we’re working towards.”
ABOUT THE HUSKIES (AUG. 28, 4 P.M. PT)
In 2014, Northeastern finished with a 10-20 overall record and a 2-14 mark in the Colonial Athletic Conference. The Huskies return 2014 CAA Rookie of the Year Brigitte Burcescu, who led the team with 400 kills. Northeastern also returns setters Jamie Bredahl and Kristen Walding.
ASU leads the all-time series with Northeastern at 1-0. The last time the two teams met was in 2006, also the Sun Devils’ season opener, which the team won in three sets.
ABOUT THE AGGIES (AUG. 29, 11 A.M. PT)
The 2014 New Mexico State Aggie finished the year at 17-11 overall, with a 10-4 mark in WAC competition. Gwen Murphy, Bradley Nash, and Nathalie Castellanos were each named to the 2015 All-WAC Preseason team. Nash led the team last season in kills with 233, while Murphy added 216 and 144 blocks.
ASU leads the all-time series with New Mexico State, 15-4. The two teams haven’t met since 1994, when ASU picked up a 3-0 victory.
ABOUT THE FALCONS (AUG. 26, 6:30 P.M. PT)
Last season, Air Force finished with a 13-19 overall record and a 7-11 in Mountain West Conference competition. Leading the way for the Falcons is Akokwe Clement, who totaled 401 kills last season.
This match marks the first meeting between the Sun Devils and the Falcons.
ASU PICKED TO FINISH SECOND IN THE PAC-12
For the first time since 1994, the Sun Devils were picked to finish second in the Pac-12 Conference in the preseason coaches poll, while returning AVCA All-American Macey Gardner was named to the Pac-12 Preseason Team for the third time in her career.
ASU IN THE AVCA POLL
The Sun Devils open the season ranked at No. 16 by the AVCA, marking the second straight year ASU was included on the preseason poll. This marks the third-straight season that the Sun Devils have been ranked in an AVCA poll, the longest span since the 1992-97 seasons.
10 of ASU’s 2015 opponents were also ranked in the preseason poll, with eight opponents also hailing from the Pac-12 Conference: No. 2 Stanford, No. 8 Illinois, No. 10 Washington, No. 12 Colorado State, No. 13 Oregon, No. 17 Arizona, No. 20 UCLA, No. 22 USC, No. 23 Utah, and No. 24 Colorado.
Last season, ASU finished out the year ranked at No. 22.
ON THE RETURNERS
Leading the Sun Devils this season are the class of five seniors: outside hitter Macey Gardner, setter Bianca Arellano, middle blocker Whitney Follette, middle blocker Mercedes Binns, and outside hitter Andi Lowrance.
Starting in each set and each match last season, AVCA All-American Gardner led the way with 594 kills—No. 2 in the single season top-10 at ASU, while Arellano added 1417 assists and a team-leading 28 service aces. Also getting the start in each of the 34 matches was Binns, who added 278 kills and 109 total blocks.
Follette missed action during the non-conference portion of the season and the beginning of last year’s Pac-12 slate, but returned strong and finished the year with 181 kills and 87 blocks, while Lowrance earned seven starts and appeared in 13 more matches, totaling 61 kills and 31 blocks.
Also back in action for ASU is sophomore libero Halle Harker, junior defensive specialist Mia Mazon, junior outside hitter Kizzy Ricedorff (Willey), and junior outside hitter Bree Bailey.
Harker finished her freshman season with 521 digs, the No. 10 mark in the single-season list, also the freshman record. Harker also recorded a career best total of 34 digs against Oregon on Nov. 15, the highest single-game total for a freshman. Harker is on pace to become the 17th Sun Devil to surpass the 1,000-dig milestone.
Bailey and Ricedorff combined for the rest of the Sun Devil offence with 527 kills. Ricedorff also added 13 aces and 44 blocks, while Bailey added 17 aces and 98 blocks. In her first year with the Sun Devils, Mazon saw action in 24 matches to boost the ASU defense.
MACEY GARDNER AND THE ROAD TO 2000
In 2007, libero Sydney Donahue set a Pac-12 record with a career total of 2,385 digs.
In 2013, libero Stephanie Preach surpassed the 2,000 dig mark, finishing her career with 2010.
In 2015, Macey Gardner is on pace to become the first Sun Devil to surpass the 2000 mark in kills.
Gardner has recorded 500-plus kills in each of her three seasons with the Sun Devils: 577 in 2012, 506 in 2013, and 594 in 2014. Her career total of 1,677 currently sits at No. 4 overall, just two away from tying Tammy Webb’s (1983-86) No. 3 mark of 1,679.
The school record for kills is 1,871, set by Christine Garner (1992-95), and Gardner needs just 194 to tie that mark.
She is 323 kills from reaching the 2,000 milestone, and she will be the seventh player from the Pac-10/12 to reach that mark. The last time a Pac-12 athlete surpassed 2,000 kills was in 2010 when Stanford’s Alix Klineman finished her career with 2,008.
ASU TOP-4 CAREER KILLS
1. Christine Garner, 1992-95 (1,871)
2. Sarah Reeves, 2007-10 (1,796)
3. Tammy Webb, 1983-86 (1,679)
4. Macey Gardner, 2012-present (1,677)
MORE CAREER RECORDS TO WATCH
Two other Sun Devils look to make moves in the career top-10 lists this season: Bianca Arellano and Whitney Follette.
Arellano has amassed 2,485 assists in her Sun Devil career, placing her at No. 8 all-time, while Follette has recorded 251 block assists, the No. 10 mark all-time, while her career total blocks, 308, sits at No. 9 all-time.
ON THE NEWCOMERS
The Sun Devils welcome six newcomers to the roster in 2015, freshmen Kierstin Fowler (Flagstaff, Ariz./Coconino HS), Kylie Pickrell (Coppell, Texas/Coppell HS), Jasmine Koonts (Houston, Texas/Klein HS), Lexi MacLean (Frisco, Texas/Centennial HS), and Tia Philippart (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS), and junior transfer Cassidy Pickrell (Coppell, Texas/Coppell HS/UC Irvine).
ASU looks to add depth in the middle with the additions of Fowler, Koonts, and Philippart. On the outside, ASU adds MacLean and Cassidy Pickrell, a transfer from UC Irvine, while her younger sister Kylie Pickrell joins the Sun Devils as a setter.
ON THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
The Sun Devils return to Colorado next week for a tournament in Fort Collins, Colo., where ASU will take on Colorado State, Western Michigan, and Northern Colorado, Sept. 4-5. The match against CSU marks a rematch from the 2014 non-conference tilt in Tempe.
The following week, ASU will open the home slate against Northern Arizona on Tuesday, Sept. 8, and then host Gonzaga on Sunday, Sept. 13.
ASU will round out the non-conference portion of the schedule at home, hosting UNLV, Texas Southern, and Illinois as part of the Red Lion Invitational at Wells Fargo Arena on Sept. 18-19. The match against the Illini marks a rematch of the 2013 tilt in Champaign, Ill.
ON THE PAC-12 SLATE
The Sun Devils open the 2015 home slate against Pac-12 rival Arizona on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. PT at Wells Fargo Arena, as part of a four-match home stand with Oregon State, Stanford, and California.
The next two weekends, ASU hits the road for matches against the Washington schools, and then the LA duo of UCLA and USC.
ASU then hosts Utah and Colorado to round out the first half of conference action before taking on a pair of midweek road matches at Stanford and California, followed by a return trip home to host the Washington schools in the first week of November.
The Sun Devils hit the road to face Colorado and Utah before rounding out the regular season home slate against UCLA and USC on Nov. 20 and 22, before finishing off the regular season at Oregon on Nov. 25 and at Arizona on Nov. 27.
ON HOME MATCH ATTENDANCE
In 2014, Arizona State hosted three of the top-10 highest-attended matches in the Coach Watson era, including a record crowd of 4,185 against Washington on Oct. 17. That match also featured a student-section record of 1,235 attendees.
The Sun Devils also hosted two more matches with crowds of more than 3,000: against Oregon State on Nov. 13 (3,667), and against Arizona on Nov. 28 (3,287).
In the last seven seasons of Watson’s tenure at ASU, the Sun Devils have recorded five matches with crowds over 3,000.