TEMPE, Ariz.—The No. 7 Arizona State volleyball team (11-0, 0-0 Pac-12) opens Pac-12 Conference competition this week, hosting rival No. 14 Arizona (10-2, 0-0 Pac-12) and Oregon State (2-8, 0-0 Pac-12) on Thursday and Sunday, respectively, at Wells Fargo Arena.
The match against the Wildcats is slated for 7 p.m. PT and the contest against the Beavers is set for a 1 p.m. PT first serve.
Both matches will air on the Pac-12 Networks with Anne Marie Anderson (pbp) and Amy Gant (color) on the call for the first Territorial Cup Series showdown of the 2015-16 year, while Daron Sutton (pbp) and Tammy Blackburn (color) will cover Sunday’s match.
Updates throughout the Sun Devils’ matches will also be available via Twitter by following @SunDevilVB.
BEST STARTS IN ASU HISTORY
1973: 21-0 (Mary Littlewood, Intermountain Conference)
2015: 11-0 (Jason Watson, Pac-12 Conference)
1976: 11-0 (Mary Littlewood, Intermountain Conference)
1985: 9-0 (Debbie Brown, Pacific West 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)
ABOUT THE WILDCATS (Sept. 25, 7 p.m. PT)
Arizona wrapped the non-conference slate at home last week, hosting New Mexico State, Texas, and Savannah State in the Wildcat Classic.
The Wildcats picked up a four-set victory over the Aggies and rebounded from a five-set loss to No. 2 Texas with a 3-0 sweep of Savannah State.
On the year, Kalei Mau and Nikki Attea lead the squad with 162 and 107 kills, respectively, while setter Penina Snuka has racked up 464 assists so far. At the net, Halli Amaro leads the way with 44 blocks.
The Sun Devils lead Arizona in the all-time series, 48-46, despite dropping the last meeting in three sets in Tempe. Macey Gardner led ASU with 15 kills and 15 digs for her 20th double-double of the year. Bianca Arellano also recorded her 20th double-double with 32 assists and 15 digs.
ABOUT THE BEAVERS (Sept. 27, 1 p.m. PT)
Oregon State dropped both its road matches last week, falling to UC Irvine in four sets before getting swept by Long Beach State.
Mary-Kate Marshall leads the Beavers in kills with 132 on the year, while Dana Backlund has racked up 277 assists, and Haley Clarke has recorded 38 blocks this season.
Prior to the match in Tempe, the Beavers will host their rival, Oregon, on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT.
ASU leads the all-time series with Oregon State, 41-18. In the teams’ last meeting, Halle Harker broke the freshman digs record for the first time in 2014 with a then-career best 33, while Macey Gardner paced ASU with 22 kills.
LAST TIME OUT
ASU upset the then-No. 6 Illinois to round out the Sun Devil Invitational last week, winning the second, third, and fifth sets to avenge the 2013 five-set loss to the Illini in Champaign.
Leading the way was Macey Gardner, who recorded 22 kills and moved to No. 2 in the all-time kills list with 1,802. The win marks the Sun Devils’ best start since 1976.
Gardner (22 kills & 15 digs), Kylie Pickrell (29 assists & 10 digs), and Cassidy Pickrell (16 kills & 15 digs) each recorded a double-double in the win, and as a team the Sun Devils held a 17.0-13.0 blocking advantage over the Illini.
Prior to the win over Illinois, the Sun Devils picked up a pair of 3-0 wins over UNLV and Texas Southern. Freshman Blair Robalin, sophomore Mia Mazon, and senior Andi Lowrance each made their first appearances this season in the win over Texas Southern.
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils will round the nine-match home stand next week, hosting Stanford and California on Friday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. PT, and Sunday, Oct. 4, at 1:30 p.m. PT, respectively.
Both matches will air on the Pac-12 Networks.
ASU LEADS PAC-12 IN OPPONENT HITTING PERCENTAGE
The Sun Devils currently lead the Pac-12 with the lowest opponent attack percentage, .094. This season, ASU has forced 280 errors and are one of two teams with an opposing attack percentage under .100.
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. 6 Illinois and rounding out the non-conference slate at 11-0, the Sun Devils moved up three spots to No. 7 in the AVCA Volleyball Poll.
This matches the highest-ever ranking the Sun Devils have achieved in the AVCA Poll, 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 69 to tie that mark.
Through the non-conference portion of the 2015 schedule, Gardner amassed 125 kills, bringing her career total to 1,802, second-most in program history.
She is 198 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-3 CAREER KILLS
1. Christine Garner, 1992-95 (1,871)
2. Macey Gardner, 2012-present (1,802)
3. Sarah Reaves, 2007-10 (1,796)
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 1,051 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 & 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 54 blocks in the first four weeks of competition, bringing her career total for block assists to 301, No. 4 all-time at ASU. She is 77 block assists from Tina Berg’s (1987-90) school record of 378.
Follette’s total of 362 total blocks also sits at a tie for No. 4 all-time at ASU with Kristin Mattson (1993-97).
Arellano has amassed 2,719 assists in her Sun Devil career, placing her at No. 7 all-time, just 11 behind Jolynn Faatulu’s (1995-98) career total of 2,719.
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 remain at home during the second week of conference play, hosting Stanford and California on Oct. 2 and 4.
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.
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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