TEMPE, Ariz.—The No. 10 Arizona State volleyball team (8-0) will round out the non-conference slate this week, hosting the Sun Devil Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.
Prior to the top-10 matchup between the Sun Devils and No. 6 Illinois (7-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT, ASU will take on UNLV on Friday and Texas Southern on Saturday, both matches starting at Noon.
All six matches as part of the Sun Devil Invitational will be live streamed via TheSunDevils.com, and updates throughout the Sun Devils’ matches will be available via Twitter by following @SunDevilVB.
FRIDAY PARKING ADVISORY
Fans planning on attending ASU’s match against UNLV (Noon PT) or the Illinois/Texas Southern match (10 a.m. PT) are encouraged to park in LOT 59, which is located North of Wells Fargo Arena.
The structures will NOT be available for volleyball parking on Friday.
Additionally, volleyball fans must use the North and East entrances to Wells Fargo Arena for both Friday matches.
Following the matches, Veteran’s Way will be closed to vehicles at 2 p.m. PT, and fans are encouraged to leave campus via Packard Drive.
Parking restrictions will return to normal for Saturday’s matches.
ASU SEEKING BEST START SINCE 1985
On Friday, ASU looks to go 9-0 for the first time since 1985, when Debbie helmed the Sun Devils Brown in the Pac West Conference. This would tie for the third-best start in program history.
BEST STARTS IN ASU HISTORY
1973: 21-0 (Mary Littlewood, Intermountain Conference)
1976: 11-0 (Mary Littlewood, Intermountain Conference)
1985: 9-0 (Debbie Brown, Pacific West Conference)
2015: 8-0 (Jason Watson, Pac-12 Conference)
1981: 8-0 (Dale Flickinger, WCAA)
1992: 8-0 (Patti Snyder-Park, Pac-10 Conference)
5x at 7-0 (1x Debbie Brown (1988), 3x Patti Snyder-Park (1993, 1995, 1997), Jason Watson (2013)
COMPLETE SUN DEVIL INVITE SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 18
10 a.m. PT - Texas Southern vs. No. 6 Illinois
Noon PT - UNLV vs. No. 10 Arizona State
Saturday, Sept. 19
10 a.m. PT - No. 6 Illinois vs. UNLV
Noon PT - Texas Southern vs. No. 10 Arizona State
5 p.m. PT - UNLV vs. Texas Southern
7 p.m. PT - No. 6 Illinois vs. No. 10 Arizona State
ABOUT THE REBELS (Sept. 18, Noon PT)
UNLV (6-3) went 3-0 last weekend their Rebel Challenge in Las Vegas, sweeping Southeastern Louisiana, defeating Portland State in five sets, and beating Oral Roberts in four sets on their way to the tournament championship.
MB Bree Hammel was named tournament MVP after hitting .421 with 30 kills and 16 total blocks over the weekend. Other rebels also named to the All-Tournament team were S Alexis Patterson, OH Sadie Stutzman and MB Ashley Owens.
ASU and UNLV are tied in the all-time series with four wins apiece. The last time these two teams met was Sept. 7, 2013 at the Gonzaga Invitational with the Sun Devils coming away with a sweep. Macey Gardner led the way for ASU, hitting .452 with 22 kills.
ABOUT THE LADY TIGERS (Sept. 19, Noon PT)
Texas Southern swept Huston-Tillotson in its home opener on Tuesday by scores of 25-11, 25-17, and 26-24, and now sits at 2-8 on the season.
Robyn Shannon led the Lady Tigers with eight kills, while Chelsea Thompson recorded 22 assists and five digs for the match.
This marks the first meeting between the Sun Devils and the Lady Tigers.
ABOUT THE ILLINI (Sept. 19, 7 p.m. PT)
The 7-1 Illini swept their three matches at the Shocker Volleyball Classic in Wichita, Kan., last week.
In the win over the host Shockers, Jocelynn Birks and Michelle Strizak led the way with 14 kills each, Birks hitting .417, while Strizak had only three errors on 35 swings for a mark of .314.
As a team, the one-loss Illini have held their opponents to .137 hitting while hitting .279 as a squad this season. Illinois’ only loss so far this season came in four sets to Stanford.
Illinois leads the all-time series with the Sun Devils, 2-0, with the last meeting coming down to the wire in 2013. ASU won the first and fourth sets in the meeting in Champaign, Ill., and were edged in the fifth frame, 17-15.
For the match, then-freshmen Kizzy Willey (now Ricedorff) and Bree Bailey led ASU with 11 kills each, while then-sophomore Whitney Follette and junior Nora Tuioti-Mariner added 10 apiece.
LAST TIME OUT
ASU picked up another home win last Sunday, defeating Gonzaga in four sets.
The Sun Devils had four players finish with at least 10 kills and their balanced attack proved to be a big difference maker. Senior Macey Gardner led ASU with 16 kills, while Bree Bailey (13), Kizzy Ricedorff (11) and Whitney Follette (10) each finished in double figures.
Four ASU players also finished with at least 15 digs, led by Halle Harker, who finished with 17. Bianca Arellano, Cassidy Pickrell and Gardner each finished with 15.
The setter duo of Bianca Arellano (30) and Kylie Pickrell (23) combined for 53 assists. Arellano has now finished with a double-double in five straight matches.
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils remain at home next week, opening Pac-12 Conference competition against rival Arizona on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT. On Sunday, Sept. 27, ASU will host Oregon State at 1 p.m. PT.
Both matches will air on the Pac-12 Networks.
ASU LEADS PAC-12 IN BLOCKING
The Sun Devils currently lead the Pac-12 in blocks per set with a mark 3.32, which is second in the nation to Penn State’s 3.46 per set.
Individually, Whitney Follette is nationally with 1.61 blocks per set, while her mark of 45 individual blocks is ranked 3rd in the conference.
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 winning the first two home matches of 2015, the Sun Devils remain ranked at No. 10 in the AVCA Volleyball Poll.
The last time the Sun Devils were in the top-10 was the week of Dec. 5, 1995. The highest-ever ranking the Sun Devils have achieved in the AVCA Poll was No. 7, which last happened in the poll released on Sept. 30, 1986.
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.
The school record for kills is 1,871, set by Christine Garner (1992-95), and Gardner needs just 109 to tie that mark.
In the first three weeks of 2015, Gardner amassed 85 kills, bringing her career total to 1,762, third-most in program history and 34 from Sarah Reeves’ No. 2 mark of 1,796.
She is 238 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 (1,762)
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 became the 17th Sun Devil to surpass the mark of 1,000 career digs when she recorded her eighth of 15 total against Northern Arizona on Tuesday, Sept. 8
Gardner currently has 1,022 digs, all time.
The last Sun Devil to enter the 1,000+ career digs list was libero Stephanie Preach, who totaled 2,010 from 2010-13, second-most all time at ASU.
1,000+ CAREER KILLS AND DIGS
Against Northern Arizona (Sept. 8), Macey Gardner became 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), with 1,312 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 45 blocks in the first three weekends of competition, bringing her career total for block assists to 293, No. 6 all-time at ASU. Her total of 353 total blocks also sits at No. 6 all-time at ASU.
Arellano has amassed 2,669 assists in her Sun Devil career, placing her at No. 8 all-time.
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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