TEMPE, Ariz.—The No. 10 Arizona State volleyball team opens the 2015 home slate, on Tuesday, hosting Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. PT at Wells Fargo Arena.
The match is the first of nine-straight the Sun Devils will play at home, through Sunday’s contest against Gonzaga at 2 p.m. PT, the Red Lion Invitational (Sept. 18-19) and the first two weekends of Pac-12 Conference competition.
Both ASU contests against the Lumberjacks and the Bulldogs will be live streamed via TheSunDevils.com, and updates throughout the match will be available via Twitter by following @SunDevilTFXC.
ABOUT THE LUMBERJACKS (Sept. 8, 7 P.M. PT)
Northern Arizona (5-1) went 3-0 at its own Lumberjack Classic last week, sweeping Houston Baptist and Liberty before outlasting Loyola Marymount in five.
Janae Vander Ploeg was named tournament MVP after averaging 4.82 kills per set, including .328 hitting and recording a double-double in the win over Liberty. Vander Ploeg recorded 26 kills in the five-set win over LMU, including nine in the second set.
ASU leads NAU in the all-time series, 40-6. The last time the two teams met, Sept. 2, 2007, the Sun Devils picked up the 3-0 sweep.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS (Sept. 13, 2 P.M. PT)
Gonzaga (4-2) went 2-1 in its own invitational over the weekend, sweeping Wyoming and Montana before falling in five sets to Utah.
In the five-set loss, Savannah Blinn led the Bulldogs with 24 kills, while McKayla Ferris added 16. Imani Wimbush tallied six blocks, while Kayliee Loewen and Lauren Joseph added four each.
ASU leads Gonzaga in the all-time series, 3-0. The last time the two teams met was in 2013, the Sun Devils picking up the 3-0 sweep. In the win, Macey Gardner picked up 20 kills, while Mercedes Binns led ASU with seven blocks.
LAST TIME OUT
ASU went 3-0 at the CSU/UNC Tournament, including a crucial road upset over then-No. 9 Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo. The victory marked the 15th top-25 win under head coach Jason Watson, and the eighth win over a top-10 team since his hiring in 2008.
Whitney Follette, Mercedes Binns, and Cassidy Pickrell each tallied eight kills, with Binns error-free as she hit .727 on 11 swings. Follette had only one error for .500 hitting, and the duo combined for nine of ASU’s 18 blocks.
In the sweep of Western Michigan, Macey Gardner led the way with 13 kills and posted her first double-double of the season with 11 digs. Bianca Arellano also recorded a double-double, her second of the year, with 20 assists and 13 digs.
After battling back to win the first set over Northern Colorado, the Sun Devils held the Bears to just .071 and .069 hitting in the second and third sets, respectively. ASU hit .310 for the match (39 kills, eight errors, 100 TA), including .407 hitting in the final frame.
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils remain at home next week, hosting UNLV, Texas Southern, and Illinois in the Red Lion Invitational, Sept. 18-19, at Wells Fargo Arena. ASU will take on UNLV on Friday at Noon PT, while Saturday, the Sun Devils will start off the day against Texas Southern at Noon PT before taking on Illinois at 7 p.m. PT in a rematch of the 2013 contest in Champaign, Ill.
More Notes On The Upset Over Colorado State
Prior to ASU’s 3-0 win over then-No. 9 Colorado State on Sept. 4, the Rams were 59-5 at home dating back to the 2011 season.
Since 1997, Tom Hilbert’s first season in Fort Collins, CSU was 259-30 (.896). The Rams are now 259-31 (.893).
ASU IN THE AVCA POLL
After upsetting then-No. 9 Colorado State, 3-0, and also picking up sweeps of Western Michigan and Northern Colorado as part of the CSU/UNC Tournament last week, the Sun Devils moved up five spots in the AVCA Volleyball Poll to No. 10.
This marks ASU’s highest ranking since the week of Dec. 5, 1995. The highest-ever ranking the Sun Devils have achieved in the AVCA Poll was No. 8, which last happened in the poll released on Nov. 29, 1982.
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, outside hitter 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.
The school record for kills is 1,871, set by Christine Garner (1992-95), and Gardner needs just 136 to tie that mark.
In the first two weekends of 2015, Gardner amassed 58 kills, bringing her career total to 1,735, third-most in program history.
She is 265 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. Macey Gardner, 2012-present (1,735)
4. Tammy Webb, 1983-86 (1,679)
On The 1,000+ Career Dig List
Along with being poised to set a new school record for kills, Macey Gardner is set to become the 17th Sun Devil to surpass the mark of 1,000 career digs.
Gardner currently has 992 digs, all time.
The last Sun Devil to enter the 1,000+ career digs list was libero Stephanie Preach, who toalled 2010 from 2010-13, second-most all time at ASU.
1,000+ CAREER KILLS & DIGS
With eight more digs, Macey Gardner will also become the 10th Sun Devil to record more than 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in their career.
The last Sun Devil to move onto the list was Margie Giordano (2005-08), with1,312 career kills and 1,218 career digs.
MORE CAREER RECORDS TO WATCH
Two other Sun Devils look to make moves in the career top-10 lists this season: Whitney Follette and Bianca Arellano.
Follette recorded 35 blocks in the first two weekends of competition, bringing her career total for block assists to 286, No. 6 all-time at ASU. Her total of 343 total blocks also sits at No. 6 all-time at ASU.
Arellano has amassed 2,620 assists in her Sun Devil career, placing her at No. 8 all-time.
ON THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
2015 All-Tournament Team Selections
Falcon Classic
MVP - Whitney Follette
All-Tournament Team - Kizzy Ricedorff (Willey)
All-Tournament Setter - Kylie Pickrell
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