By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- If character is measured in moments of adversity, everything you need to know about Macey Gardner's mettle was on display in the moments after she suffered a season-ending ACL tear on Oct. 9 at Washington.
"She kept saying 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry.'" Sun Devils volleyball coach Jason Watson said. "True to her form, she wasn't sorry for herself and not being able to realize some of the goals she had set for herself when she came here. She was sorry that she couldn't help her team -- and help me!"
Watson still shakes his head when he thinks about that moment.
"That's a rare trait," he said. "You hope it’s the foundation that your program is built upon but I think it takes somebody special to have that reaction in that situation."
It took time for Gardner to move past the disappointment of not being able to chase an NCAA title with her teammates. When the senior outside hitter went down, ASU was 15-0, ranked No. 5 in the country and about to take the second set against the No. 6 Huskies in Seattle.
Her parents were both athletes who had been through injuries. That perspective helped, but every time she attended practices or games, with her leg in a brace, she watched in frustration as her teammates worked to find a winning lineup while also compensating for an injury to junior outsider hitter Kizzy Ricedorff.
She watched her best friend, Whitney Follette, selflessly move from middle blocker, where she may have been having an All-American season, to outside hitter as the Devils tried to compensate for Gardner's absence.
"We were starting to see new possibilities for our team and it was just starting to get rolling when that injury changed things," Gardner said. "They're struggling through those changes and I'm sitting there with my leg up watching. I wanted to go and help and I couldn't so that was hard for me."
The Sun Devils fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Florida State, but that loss is not what sticks with Gardner these days as she continues her rehab. Nor is the injury or the fact that she broke the school's career record for kills before her injury, finishing with 1,882.
"A lot of people would say that the last couple of months were a disappointment but the last couple months actually showed me why I became a Sun Devil," she said. "The players were there for each other and the coaches were there for us. We didn't get the results we wanted on the court but this showed me what great people we had.
"I never went to ASU thinking I wanted to break the kills record. It happened and it's great but the thing is, it all happened because of the girls that were there. It was an awesome experience that I'll never forget."
Gardner's rehab is scheduled for six months, following successful surgery with Dr. Anikar Chhabra at the Mayo Clinic. If all goes according to plan, she hopes to be resume normal activities by early summer.
The injury postponed plans she had to play pro ball (likely in Europe) next fall, but she has applied for ASU's masters program in sports law and business after earning her bachelor's degree last week.
"I've spent a lot of time playing volleyball and putting other things off, so there could be a possibility that I'm ready to start something new. I just don't know yet," she said. "Maybe I'll try coaching. Maybe I'll finish my masters. There's a possibility for pro ball or if an invitation for the (2020) Olympics comes around.
"Right now, I'm just focusing on my rehab and starting a masters while I'm still under scholarship."
Whatever Gardner decides, Watson will support her, although he takes particular pride in the fact that she is considering coaching.
"That makes me happy that after four years with me she's not jaded about the profession," he said, laughing. "She's going to be successful in whatever she decides to do."
Gardner has been the face of ASU volleyball the past few years; the "poster player" as Watson terms it. While her statistical accomplishments and the Sun Devils' four straight NCAA appearances attest to her elite athletic ability, Watson will remember Gardner more for the person she is than the player she was.
"There was this humble quietness about her that I think resonated with people," Watson said. "She wasn't boisterous in her play and she never showed up her opponents or glorified what she was doing.
"She was this highly competitive athlete that still somehow went about her work with great humility. Whether she was on the poster or not, it really didn't matter."