Since the 2007 debuts of Sarah Reaves and Sarah Johnson as freshmen on the ASU volleyball team, both have served as fixtures in the Sun Devil starting lineup.
Reaves and Johnson are sure to be in their usual outside hitter and libero starting slots once again this weekend.
However, the pair of seniors will compete at Wells Fargo Arena for the final time when the Sun Devils (11-16, 5-9 Pac-10) host No. 11 Washington on Friday and Washington State on Saturday.
ASU split the weekend series in Washington earlier this season by falling 0-3 to the Huskies (18-7, 7-7) on Oct. 22 and defeating the Cougars (6-18, 0-14) 3-2 in Pullman on Oct. 23.
The Sun Devil squad would like nothing more than to send out their seniors with a pair of wins.
“It’s important because no, we didn’t make it to the postseason, and it’s our last home games,” freshman outside hitter Danica Mendivil said. “[This is the] last time they’re really going to play and compete in Wells. I think we all know. We all feel it. We all want to go out for them, to end the year good.”
UW comes to Tempe after a difficult trip to Northern California where it lost matches against No. 2 Stanford and No. 4 California.
The Huskie offense is powered by a pair of talented senior outside hitters in Kindra Carlson and Becky Perry. Carlson has been nothing short of impressive during her final season in Seattle, and she currently ranks fifth on the Pac-10 kills list this season. Both Carlson and Perry passed the 1,000 career kill milestone last weekend.
The Sun Devil defense will face the tall task of slowing down the Huskies’ outside hitters.
“The key is going to be to identify where the set is going,” junior middle blocker Sonja Markanovich said. “Identify it early and make the proper block move. If we get there early, we can see what shot she’s going to take then press in and take that shot away.”
UW and WSU have seen vastly different results this season. While the Huskies continue to be a presence among the nation’s top 25 programs, success in the win column has been hard to find for WSU in 2010.
After competing in the NCAA tournament last winter, the Cougars are trapped in a 14-match losing streak, and remain winless in the Pac-10.
Although WSU has struggled in conference play, ASU coach Jason Watson acknowledges that the Cougars boast talent across the court.
“They graduated some athletes with some experience,” Watson said. “But again they played tough last weekend against the Northern [California] schools. They’re a wonderful team. I think it’s really hard to get wins and then to get some momentum in the Pac-10.”
As the Sun Devils and the seniors conclude their home schedule, they realize there is still plenty to play for in the final four matches.
“Sarah Reaves is leading that charge a little bit,” Watson said. “It’s her senior year and she’s really quite engaged still. She was last weekend, and she continues to lead us. Certainly for both Sarah Reaves and Sarah Johnson it would be nice to have a good weekend at home, and they could close out a pretty nice career.”
Both Friday and Saturday’s matches start at 7 p.m.
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
