The ASU volleyball team (5-2) finished a successful weekend at the Portland Nike Invitational with a convincing 3-1 victory over the UC Irvine Anteaters on Saturday.
The Sun Devils were fueled by the outstanding play of junior middle blocker Paige Mittelstaedt. She finished the match with 14 kills and a career-high 11 blocks, more than the entire UC Irvine team.
ASU cruised to easy victories in the first two sets winning 25-17, 25-22 before the Anteaters capitalized on Sun Devil errors to pull out a 27-25 victory in extra points.
The fourth set continued in a close battle and featured 14 ties before the Sun Devils pulled away and ended the match on an ace from senior outside hitter Margie Giordano.
The first two days of the tournament also proved to be successful for the team as well.
Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Reaves led the Sun Devils in their first victory over Portland University recording 20 kills and 10 digs. ASU rallied back after dropping the first game to win the next three and the match.
ASU suffered its only loss of the tournament on Friday against No. 20 Kansas State but rallied to win a five-set match against a previously unbeaten University of South Florida team.
The match went back and forth, but the Sun Devils turned it up a notch and crushed USF after going on a 14-6 point run to win 15-7. Giordano led the offense with 19 kills.
ASU finished the three-day tournament with a 3-1 record and a second place finish behind KSU.
Reach the reporter at ryan.campbell@asu.edu.
