TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State volleyball team (10-6, 0-4 Pac-12) is set to host a pair of ranked teams in No. 13 UCLA (9-4, 2-2 Pac-12) and No. 15 USC (12-3, 4-0 Pac-12) on Friday and Saturday, respectively, at Wells Fargo Arena.
Friday's match featuring the Bruins is slated for an 8 p.m. PT first serve, and will air via Pac-12 Networks with Kevin Barnett and Holly McPeak on the call. Saturday's tilt with the visiting Trojans is set for a 6 p.m. PT start, and will be live streamed on TheSunDevils.com.
How To Follow The Action
UCLA -- Watch | Stats
USC -- Watch | Stats
Gameday Promotions
UCLA -- Honor the Greats Match: The team is set to honor a Sun Devil all-time great. You don't want to miss out on this great event that includes a commemorative ticket giveaway for the first 750 fans in attendance.
USC -- Breast Cancer Awareness Match: Wear PINK as the Sun Devils host their 2017 Breast Cancer Awareness Match. The Sun Devils will sport pink socks to show their support and the team store will have pink apparel on-sale. Also, stick around after the match ends to get an autograph from all your favorite Sun Devils. 500 fans will receive the second autograph card of the limited series.
All Time Series Standings
-- vs. UCLA: Bruins lead, 71-10 (A: 2-38, H: 7-30, N: 1-3)
-- vs. USC: Trojans lead, 64-13-1 (A: 5-34, H: 8-30, N: 0-3-1)
New Year, Same Oly_In each of Arizona State's four tournaments during the non-conference slate Oluoma Okaro garnered all-tournament team recognition. After collecting MVP honors at the Arizona State-hosted Sun Devil Classic, Aug. 25-26, Okaro went on to net placement on the all-tournament teams of the Gonzaga Invitational (Sep. 1-2) and Lumberjack Classic (Sep. 8-9), and Maverick Classic (Sep. 15-16), respectively. Having paced the Sun Devils on the attack in 12 of the team's 16 matches on the season, Okaro boasts a kills per set average of 4.61, marking the second-best tally in the conference and the 13th-best in the country. Her points per set average of 5.34 accounts for the second-best in the league, while her six double-doubles on the campaign sits in a tie for the seventh most in the Pac-12.
Okaro's Career Day_Oluoma Okaro was a bright spot in Arizona State's five-set, 3-2 loss to No. 7 Washington on Sep. 24, recording a career high 30 kills on .414 attacking. The senior's 30 kills tie for the most kills in a single match by a Sun Devil in the rally scoring era (since 2001) with current assistant coach Macey Gardner (9/24/14 at Arizona) and former standout Sarah Reaves (9/20/08 vs. W. Kentucky). Okaro now holds the season best mark for kills in the Pac-12 Conference, surpassing Stanford's Kathryn Plummer's 27 kills from Sept. 1.
Pac-12 Individual Match Highs | Kills
-- 30 (30- 6-58) 5s Okaro, Oluoma (Arizona State) vs Washington (Sep 24, 2017)
-- 27 (27- 5-50) 4s Plummer, Kathryn (Stanford) vs Penn State (Sep 01, 2017)
-- 26 (26- 6-57) 5s Anae, Adora (Utah) at Kentucky (Aug 25, 2017)
-- 25 (25-10-68) 5s Smith, Alexa (Colorado) vs Stanford (Sep 24, 2017)
-- 25 (25- 7-58) 5s Smith, Alexa (Colorado) at Colorado State (Sep 16, 2017)
Arizona State Individual Match Records (Rally Scoring Era) | Kills
-- Macey Gardner (9/24/14 at Arizona)...............................30
-- Sarah Reaves (9/20/08 vs. W. Kentucky).......................30
-- Oluoma Okaro (11/24/17 vs. UW)..................................30
-- Macey Gardner (11/21/14 at WSU)................................29
-- Macey Gardner (10/24/13 at Utah).................................29
-- Macey Gardner (11/15/14 vs. Oregon)..........................28
-- Macey Gardner (8/31/12 at UC Irvine)...........................28
-- Sarah Reaves (9/27/07 vs. Oregon)................................28
Hark! The Halle Digs_Harker's career digs tally of 1,703 marks the third-best in Arizona State program history, and also constitutes the 12th most in the NCAA among active players. The Pac-12 conference's current leader in digs per set at a clip of 5.36, Harker sits 23rd in the nation in that category.
ASU Career Digs Leaders
--Sydney Donahue, 2004-07-- 2385
--Stephanie Preach, 2010-2013—2010
--Halle Harker, 2014-present—1703
--Christy Nore, 1985-88 –1597
--Jami Coughlin, 1998-2001—1528
Harker Earns Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week Honors_Following a historic outing at UT Arlington's Maverick Classic (Sep. 15-16), senior libero Halle Harker garnered Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors, as announced by the league office on Sep. 18.The recognition represents the first of Harker's career, while marking the 22nd player of the week nod in Sun Devil program history. Buoying the Sun Devil defensive effort on the weekend, Harker compiled 61 digs (6.10 dps), while adding 18 assists, to help propel the Sun Devils (10-2), to perfect, 3-0 showing at the UT Arlington-hosted Maverick Classic. Most notably her 23-dig outing in Arizona State's 3-1 victory (25-20, 25-23, 17-25, 25-19) over Houston Baptist on Sep. 16, moved her into third in Sun Devil program history in career digs.
Coleman Connection_Sun Devil Director of Volleyball Operations Nellie Coleman (Spicer) compiled a prolific four-year career at UCLA as a setter, garnering a laundry list of accolades. A three-time AVCA First Team All-American, a three-time All-Pac-10 selectee, and three-time All-Pacific Region member, Coleman concluded her career as one of the best to ever don the UCLA gold and blue. Amassing exceptional career marks in assists (6,000/2nd most in program history) and digs (1,299/3rd most in program history), Coleman, formerly known as Nellie Spicer, anchored the Bruins to four postseason appearances including a Final Four Appearance in 2006.
Stacking Up The Pac_The Sun Devils currently rank in the top-5 in four statistical categories in the Pac-12 including kills/s (13.96, 5th), assists/s (13.39/ 3rd), digs/s (16.55, 1st) and Opponent Hitting % (.187, 4th).
Last Time Out_The Sun Devils made their first Pac-12 Conference road trip of the season, traveling to the Bay Area for a pair of matches against No. 2 Stanford and California. Arizona State dropped both contests by a score of 3-0.
Taking The Reins_Coach Tomasevic is one of four newcomer head coaches in the Pac-12 conference this season. Tomasevic joins Matt Ulmer (Oregon), Matt McShane (California) and Kevin Hambly (Stanford) as first-year head coaches in the conference.
Youth Movement_A trio of Sun Devil true freshman including Griere Hughes, Shelbie Dobmeier and Megan Beedie, have shined in the early going of the 2017 season. Hughes, an outside hitter from Fishers, Indiana, has notched double-figure kills tallies in 10 of Arizona State's 16 outings on the season. She currently boasts a kills per set average of 2.96. Dobmeier, a setter, from Lakewood, Calif, qualified as the Pac-12 assists leader for a span of six weeks, and sits with season tally of 11.63 to her credit. Beedie, a middle blocker from Cambridge, Ontario, has made four starts while making appearances in five matches on the season for the Sun Devils, logging 23 kills and nine total blocks in that span.
There's No Place Like Home_Arizona State officially rang in the 2017 season playing host to the Sun Devils Classic, Aug. 25-26. The team exited the outing unscathed, garnering straight-set victories over Weber State, North Dakota State and 2016 NCAA tournament team Boise State respectively. Senior Oluoma Okaro paced Arizona State in kills in each of the team's three weekend matches to earn tournament MVP honors, while freshman setter Shelbie Dobmeier notched consecutive double-doubles to cap the tournament and earn selection to the Sun Devil Classic All-Tournament team. The Sun Devils are now 14-1 in home openers, dating back back to 2002.
Tomasevic Garners First Career Win_In her first match at the helm of the Sun Devil volleyball program, first-year head coach Sanja Tomasevic guided the Sun Devils to a 3-0 straight-set sweep of visiting Weber St on Aug. 25. The statement victory preceded two additional wins, seeing the Sun Devils exit the weekend at a perfect 3-0 season mark.
Pac-12 Slate_Following their trek to Northern California, the Sun Devils return to Tempe for their longest home stand of the season. The four-game stretch begins Wednesday, Oct. 6th with a matchup with UCLA in addition to a Thursday, Oct. 7th contest against USC. The next weekend, Arizona State hosts Colorado (Wednesday, Oct. 13th) and Utah (Friday, Oct. 15th) to complete the extended home stay. The Sun Devils will then proceed to travel to Oregon the next weekend to take on Oregon (Wednesday, Oct. 20th) and Oregon State (Thursday, Oct. 21st). Arizona State returns to Wells Fargo Arena to square off for the second time with the Bay Area schools. The Sun Devils play Stanford (Wednesday, October 27th) and California (Friday, October 29th) with both matches being aired on Pac-12 Network. Arizona State will hit the road again the following week as they head back to California, this time to the southern part of the state. The Sun Devils will take on USC (Friday, Nov. 3rd) and UCLA (Saturday, Nov. 4th), each for the second time on the season. During the final home stand, the Sun Devils will take on Oregon (Thursday, Nov. 9th) and Oregon State (Friday, Nov. 11th). Arizona State will honor the senior class during the final match on Nov. 11th against Oregon State. Arizona State's gauntlet of a 20-match Pac-12 slate will see the Sun Devils take on some of the nation's top teams. ASU will match up with the defending national champions, the Stanford Cardinal, twice during the regular season (Sep. 27 & Oct. 27). The Maroon and Gold will face a total of nine teams that made the NCAA tournament, including eight teams from the Pac-12 conference – Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Utah, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Arizona.
Preseason Sun Devil All-Tournament Selections
--Sun Devil Classic (Aug. 25-26): Oluoma Okaro (MVP), Shelbie Dobmeier
--Gonzaga Invitational (Sep. 1-2): Oluoma Okaro
--Lumberjack Classic (Sep. 8-9): Halle Harker (MVP), Oluoma Okaro, Peyton Grahovac
--Maverick Classic (Sep. 15-16): Griere Hughes, Oluoma Okaro
Friday's match featuring the Bruins is slated for an 8 p.m. PT first serve, and will air via Pac-12 Networks with Kevin Barnett and Holly McPeak on the call. Saturday's tilt with the visiting Trojans is set for a 6 p.m. PT start, and will be live streamed on TheSunDevils.com.
How To Follow The Action
UCLA -- Watch | Stats
USC -- Watch | Stats
Gameday Promotions
UCLA -- Honor the Greats Match: The team is set to honor a Sun Devil all-time great. You don't want to miss out on this great event that includes a commemorative ticket giveaway for the first 750 fans in attendance.
USC -- Breast Cancer Awareness Match: Wear PINK as the Sun Devils host their 2017 Breast Cancer Awareness Match. The Sun Devils will sport pink socks to show their support and the team store will have pink apparel on-sale. Also, stick around after the match ends to get an autograph from all your favorite Sun Devils. 500 fans will receive the second autograph card of the limited series.
All Time Series Standings
-- vs. UCLA: Bruins lead, 71-10 (A: 2-38, H: 7-30, N: 1-3)
-- vs. USC: Trojans lead, 64-13-1 (A: 5-34, H: 8-30, N: 0-3-1)
New Year, Same Oly_In each of Arizona State's four tournaments during the non-conference slate Oluoma Okaro garnered all-tournament team recognition. After collecting MVP honors at the Arizona State-hosted Sun Devil Classic, Aug. 25-26, Okaro went on to net placement on the all-tournament teams of the Gonzaga Invitational (Sep. 1-2) and Lumberjack Classic (Sep. 8-9), and Maverick Classic (Sep. 15-16), respectively. Having paced the Sun Devils on the attack in 12 of the team's 16 matches on the season, Okaro boasts a kills per set average of 4.61, marking the second-best tally in the conference and the 13th-best in the country. Her points per set average of 5.34 accounts for the second-best in the league, while her six double-doubles on the campaign sits in a tie for the seventh most in the Pac-12.
Okaro's Career Day_Oluoma Okaro was a bright spot in Arizona State's five-set, 3-2 loss to No. 7 Washington on Sep. 24, recording a career high 30 kills on .414 attacking. The senior's 30 kills tie for the most kills in a single match by a Sun Devil in the rally scoring era (since 2001) with current assistant coach Macey Gardner (9/24/14 at Arizona) and former standout Sarah Reaves (9/20/08 vs. W. Kentucky). Okaro now holds the season best mark for kills in the Pac-12 Conference, surpassing Stanford's Kathryn Plummer's 27 kills from Sept. 1.
Pac-12 Individual Match Highs | Kills
-- 30 (30- 6-58) 5s Okaro, Oluoma (Arizona State) vs Washington (Sep 24, 2017)
-- 27 (27- 5-50) 4s Plummer, Kathryn (Stanford) vs Penn State (Sep 01, 2017)
-- 26 (26- 6-57) 5s Anae, Adora (Utah) at Kentucky (Aug 25, 2017)
-- 25 (25-10-68) 5s Smith, Alexa (Colorado) vs Stanford (Sep 24, 2017)
-- 25 (25- 7-58) 5s Smith, Alexa (Colorado) at Colorado State (Sep 16, 2017)
Arizona State Individual Match Records (Rally Scoring Era) | Kills
-- Macey Gardner (9/24/14 at Arizona)...............................30
-- Sarah Reaves (9/20/08 vs. W. Kentucky).......................30
-- Oluoma Okaro (11/24/17 vs. UW)..................................30
-- Macey Gardner (11/21/14 at WSU)................................29
-- Macey Gardner (10/24/13 at Utah).................................29
-- Macey Gardner (11/15/14 vs. Oregon)..........................28
-- Macey Gardner (8/31/12 at UC Irvine)...........................28
-- Sarah Reaves (9/27/07 vs. Oregon)................................28
Hark! The Halle Digs_Harker's career digs tally of 1,703 marks the third-best in Arizona State program history, and also constitutes the 12th most in the NCAA among active players. The Pac-12 conference's current leader in digs per set at a clip of 5.36, Harker sits 23rd in the nation in that category.
ASU Career Digs Leaders
--Sydney Donahue, 2004-07-- 2385
--Stephanie Preach, 2010-2013—2010
--Halle Harker, 2014-present—1703
--Christy Nore, 1985-88 –1597
--Jami Coughlin, 1998-2001—1528
Harker Earns Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week Honors_Following a historic outing at UT Arlington's Maverick Classic (Sep. 15-16), senior libero Halle Harker garnered Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors, as announced by the league office on Sep. 18.The recognition represents the first of Harker's career, while marking the 22nd player of the week nod in Sun Devil program history. Buoying the Sun Devil defensive effort on the weekend, Harker compiled 61 digs (6.10 dps), while adding 18 assists, to help propel the Sun Devils (10-2), to perfect, 3-0 showing at the UT Arlington-hosted Maverick Classic. Most notably her 23-dig outing in Arizona State's 3-1 victory (25-20, 25-23, 17-25, 25-19) over Houston Baptist on Sep. 16, moved her into third in Sun Devil program history in career digs.
Coleman Connection_Sun Devil Director of Volleyball Operations Nellie Coleman (Spicer) compiled a prolific four-year career at UCLA as a setter, garnering a laundry list of accolades. A three-time AVCA First Team All-American, a three-time All-Pac-10 selectee, and three-time All-Pacific Region member, Coleman concluded her career as one of the best to ever don the UCLA gold and blue. Amassing exceptional career marks in assists (6,000/2nd most in program history) and digs (1,299/3rd most in program history), Coleman, formerly known as Nellie Spicer, anchored the Bruins to four postseason appearances including a Final Four Appearance in 2006.
Stacking Up The Pac_The Sun Devils currently rank in the top-5 in four statistical categories in the Pac-12 including kills/s (13.96, 5th), assists/s (13.39/ 3rd), digs/s (16.55, 1st) and Opponent Hitting % (.187, 4th).
Last Time Out_The Sun Devils made their first Pac-12 Conference road trip of the season, traveling to the Bay Area for a pair of matches against No. 2 Stanford and California. Arizona State dropped both contests by a score of 3-0.
Taking The Reins_Coach Tomasevic is one of four newcomer head coaches in the Pac-12 conference this season. Tomasevic joins Matt Ulmer (Oregon), Matt McShane (California) and Kevin Hambly (Stanford) as first-year head coaches in the conference.
Youth Movement_A trio of Sun Devil true freshman including Griere Hughes, Shelbie Dobmeier and Megan Beedie, have shined in the early going of the 2017 season. Hughes, an outside hitter from Fishers, Indiana, has notched double-figure kills tallies in 10 of Arizona State's 16 outings on the season. She currently boasts a kills per set average of 2.96. Dobmeier, a setter, from Lakewood, Calif, qualified as the Pac-12 assists leader for a span of six weeks, and sits with season tally of 11.63 to her credit. Beedie, a middle blocker from Cambridge, Ontario, has made four starts while making appearances in five matches on the season for the Sun Devils, logging 23 kills and nine total blocks in that span.
There's No Place Like Home_Arizona State officially rang in the 2017 season playing host to the Sun Devils Classic, Aug. 25-26. The team exited the outing unscathed, garnering straight-set victories over Weber State, North Dakota State and 2016 NCAA tournament team Boise State respectively. Senior Oluoma Okaro paced Arizona State in kills in each of the team's three weekend matches to earn tournament MVP honors, while freshman setter Shelbie Dobmeier notched consecutive double-doubles to cap the tournament and earn selection to the Sun Devil Classic All-Tournament team. The Sun Devils are now 14-1 in home openers, dating back back to 2002.
Tomasevic Garners First Career Win_In her first match at the helm of the Sun Devil volleyball program, first-year head coach Sanja Tomasevic guided the Sun Devils to a 3-0 straight-set sweep of visiting Weber St on Aug. 25. The statement victory preceded two additional wins, seeing the Sun Devils exit the weekend at a perfect 3-0 season mark.
Pac-12 Slate_Following their trek to Northern California, the Sun Devils return to Tempe for their longest home stand of the season. The four-game stretch begins Wednesday, Oct. 6th with a matchup with UCLA in addition to a Thursday, Oct. 7th contest against USC. The next weekend, Arizona State hosts Colorado (Wednesday, Oct. 13th) and Utah (Friday, Oct. 15th) to complete the extended home stay. The Sun Devils will then proceed to travel to Oregon the next weekend to take on Oregon (Wednesday, Oct. 20th) and Oregon State (Thursday, Oct. 21st). Arizona State returns to Wells Fargo Arena to square off for the second time with the Bay Area schools. The Sun Devils play Stanford (Wednesday, October 27th) and California (Friday, October 29th) with both matches being aired on Pac-12 Network. Arizona State will hit the road again the following week as they head back to California, this time to the southern part of the state. The Sun Devils will take on USC (Friday, Nov. 3rd) and UCLA (Saturday, Nov. 4th), each for the second time on the season. During the final home stand, the Sun Devils will take on Oregon (Thursday, Nov. 9th) and Oregon State (Friday, Nov. 11th). Arizona State will honor the senior class during the final match on Nov. 11th against Oregon State. Arizona State's gauntlet of a 20-match Pac-12 slate will see the Sun Devils take on some of the nation's top teams. ASU will match up with the defending national champions, the Stanford Cardinal, twice during the regular season (Sep. 27 & Oct. 27). The Maroon and Gold will face a total of nine teams that made the NCAA tournament, including eight teams from the Pac-12 conference – Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Utah, Oregon, UCLA, USC and Arizona.
Preseason Sun Devil All-Tournament Selections
--Sun Devil Classic (Aug. 25-26): Oluoma Okaro (MVP), Shelbie Dobmeier
--Gonzaga Invitational (Sep. 1-2): Oluoma Okaro
--Lumberjack Classic (Sep. 8-9): Halle Harker (MVP), Oluoma Okaro, Peyton Grahovac
--Maverick Classic (Sep. 15-16): Griere Hughes, Oluoma Okaro