For the fourth time in five weeks, No. 6 ASU volleyball will play a top-15 team.
The weekend starts against No. 8 Stanford, who ASU head coach Jason Watson called the “marquee” team on the West Coast.
“When you look at marquee programs across the country ... you’ve got Stanford and you’ve got Penn State,” Watson said. “They’re it, they’re the benchmark.”
That’s high praise for the Cardinal. Penn State has won six NCAA championships in the last eight years; last year, it knocked off Stanford in the Final Four.
Stanford’s 8-3 start is its slowest since 2011, when it began with the same record. Already, the Cardinal has more losses than it did all of last season, when it finished 33-2.
The team is slightly different than last year. Senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku is out for the season after injuring her knee in June while playing on the U.S. national team.
Senior outside hitter Jordan Burgess hasn’t been as effective this season. Her hitting percentage has dipped from .264 to .176 and her kills per set decreased from 3.09 to 1.92.
Even with her struggles, ASU senior middle blocker Whitney Follette called Burgess the biggest concern.
“She’s a good hitter, she’s a good worker on defense and offense,” Follette said.
Stanford has depth to make up for these losses. Senior outside hitter Brittany Howard is getting more kills per set than last year, and the Cardinal nabbed the No. 1 recruit in the nation: freshman outside hitter Hayley Hodson.
ASU senior outside hitter Macey Gardner said Stanford poses a different challenge than a team like Arizona — she said the Sun Devils focused on one Wildcat player, but they can’t do that with Stanford.
“They have two great outsides, they’ve got huge middles and the setter’s going to put them in great places,” she said. “Overall, they’re just a great strong team, and not just (in) one area.”
ASU has become more well-rounded as well, but injury concerns linger. Freshman setter Kylie Pickrell has missed the last two matches with a knee injury.
On Tuesday, Watson said she got four days of rest before practicing on Tuesday. He said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that Pickrell will play on Friday.
Watson also seems more confident going into this game than past Stanford matches.
“I like our chances better than we’ve ever had,” he said before adding, “But still, it’s a daunting proposition.”
ASU follows the Stanford match with one against Cal. The Golden Bears’ 6-7 record is somewhat misleading. Its two most recent losses have come against Stanford and now-No. 11 UCLA.
“Everybody’s good, it’s ridiculous.” Watson said. “We’re talking about Stanford but Cal scares me to death.”
He said that Cal’s success rests upon redshirt senior middle blocker Lillian Schonewise, who attacks with a slide play.
“Her tempo and her speed at which she goes off one foot just scares me to death,” Watson said. “If we can find a way to get them out of system then perhaps that neutralizes that.”
With Pac-12 play underway, ASU will be tested. This is the first time since 1999 that ASU began conference play with a 2-0 weekend.
“The question is, can you sustain that over the course of 18 matches?” Watson said.
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