Outside hitter sophomore BreElle Bailey dives for the ball against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Hawkeyes, 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)The ASU volleyball team is ranked 18th in the country and for the first time this season it will face a team ranked in the top 10 when No. 8 Colorado State (9-1) visits Tempe this weekend.
“They’re the best team that we’ve played so far this season,” head coach Jason Watson said of the Rams. “They beat a really, really good BYU team last weekend, their lone loss is to Wisconsin, who is this perennial top-5 team... they’re good. It’s a good test for us.”
Ten games into the season, Colorado State has three players with at least 89 kills. Redshirt senior middle blocker Kelsey Snider has 100, with only 17 errors. She is hitting .411.
ASU has its own killer, though. Junior outside hitter Macey Gardner has 115 kills, though with almost twice as many errors as Snider (33). Gardner had 19 kills and got 49 opportunities against Northern Illinois last weekend, and Watson said it was she that propelled ASU to a 3-2-comeback victory.
“We certainly hope that we’re not always Macey-driven, but when it gets into these matches, it’s nice to have someone like Macey that can step up and score a bunch of points and lead your team,” Watson said.
Watson refers to last season's offense as "The Macey Show" but this season it's been a new script.
A new threat is emerging in sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey. She has played in both the front and back rows and has 79 kills to go with 43 digs and 28 blocks.
Colorado State does boast the advantage in depth though, particularly with ASU junior middle blocker Whitney Follette likely to miss the match due to an abdominal injury. Colorado State freshman middle blocker Alexandra Poletto has played in just 15 sets, yet she’s amassed 26 kills and 13 total blocks.
The main aspect of depth: Colorado State has 11 players who have played more than five sets. ASU only has eight, not including Follette.
Junior setter Bianca Arellano said the team has been working on their rhythms a lot since struggling to find them over the last round of matches.
“What we’ve been talking from last weekend is really dialing in, getting in our passing rhythm and our serving rhythm just so we don’t give away free points,” she said.
ASU follows up Colorado State with two matches on Saturday against North Carolina Central and Pepperdine. Watson said he doesn’t know much about NCCU’s play style.
“I don’t know much about (them), quite yet,” he said. “I will later this week, but the unknowns in our lineup has been taxing most of my time.”
NCCU earned Division 1 recognition just three years ago. In 2011, its first season, the volleyball team went 5-26. Last season, it went 3-25.
This season, the team has started off with twelve consecutive losses and are still looking for their first win since Oct. 2013.
Pepperdine, who ASU will play Saturday night, is 4-5 on the year. Despite the subpar record, sophomore outside hitters Jillian Bergeson and Gaby Palmeri each have more than 100 kills on the season. The team has not been shut out in a loss.
Watson said Pepperdine has a new coach and he respects their staff.
“Their staff is really good,” he said. "They’re going to be prepared.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
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