No. 10 ASU Volleyball’s toughest weekend of the season got a little bit harder with the absence of senior outside hitter Macey Gardner.
Now, the Sun Devils have to take on No. 1 USC and No. 12 UCLA without their star.
Junior outside hitter Kizzy Ricedorff is also day-to-day with numbness in her right hand and some back pain.
“It’s feeling a lot better,” Ricedorff said on Wednesday, comparing it to Sunday’s pain. “All MRIs check out, I think my spine is just a little messed up. … A nerve’s being pinched in my neck.”
With at least one veteran hitter out, ASU will have to play against the two Pac-12 leaders in kills per set.
First off is USC’s senior outside hitter Samantha Bricio, who is one of the best players in the country.
She has 302 kills and leads the Pac-12 with 4.95 kills-per-set, which is the fourth-best in the nation.
ASU head coach Jason Watson said his team needs to find Bricio's tendency and be disciplined with the block.
“That’s hard to do because she has so much range," he said.
Additionally, Bricio continues to be a hard-hitting server that routinely gets aces. She has 45 aces in 61 sets. The only person with more aces than her in the nation, Central Arkansas’ senior outside hitter Heather Schnars, has 47 aces in 74 sets.
The per-set differential: .737 aces for Bricio and .635 for Schnars.
ASU has improved its serve receive game, but will need to take it an extra step to beat Bricio.
Sophomore libero Halle Harker said ASU won't treat her different than other servers.
“She has a lot of speed on it but we treat her like any other server,” Harker said. “We want to side out first ball. ... We know we’re capable of receiving it.”
Last year, the Sun Devils were able to contain Bricio's serving prowess in ASU's first victory over USC in LA in 18 years. She hit two aces and four service errors. They couldn’t contain Bricio on the attack, though. She had 22 kills and hit .340.
USC is better this year, and Watson said it stems from its passing game.
“They’re running their offense a little faster, they’re a little more physical,” he said. “They’re passing really well. Like, really well. It enables them to do things fast.”
UCLA has also improved while managing to get over the graduation of star outside hitter Karsta Lowe. Jordan Anderson has taken her place and is second to Bricio in kills-per-set in the Pac-12. She’s sixth overall in the nation.
Anderson and redshirt sophomore setter Ryann Chandler both transferred to UCLA over the summer. Chandler gave UCLA the capability to play in a 6-2 system, and she currently leads the team with 327 assists.
This transformation has allowed the Bruins to see continued success that got them to the regional semifinals in the NCAA tournament last season.
ASU, while attempting to prepare for these threats, has to face the internal threat of missing usual producers.
“Right now, the best thing we could say is our goal is to focus on us and see if we could get us in some good places, and then maybe down the road get dialed in on (opponents),” Watson said.
Related Links:
ASU volleyball's Macey Gardner out for season with ACL tear, Kizzy Ricedorff day-to-day
No. 5 ASU women's volleyball struggles without Macey Gardner, swept by Washington State
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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