The 2010 season came to a close over the weekend for the ASU volleyball team after a pair of Pac-10 matches with two very different outcomes.
In their final weekend of play, the Sun Devils (13-18, 7-11 Pac-10) stunned No. 2 California with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory.
After Wednesday night’s win in Berkeley, Calif., the Sun Devils faced No. 4 Stanford in the season finale on Friday. The Cardinal (24-3, 15-3) swept ASU in three sets by scores of 25-15, 25-15, and 25-23.
Wednesday night’s upset win over the Golden Bears (25-3, 15-3) was ASU’s third victory over a top-10 opponent this season.
“We were playing ASU volleyball,” freshman setter Stephanie Preach said. “We had a game plan and stayed on it. We played well all together, and we never gave up. We kept grinding and grinding until we could pull off the win.”
Cal entered the holiday weekend looking to claim the Pac-10 title outright, needing a pair of wins over ASU and No. 20 Arizona to do so.
The Sun Devils had other plans, jumping out to a 1-0 lead behind five kills from sophomore outside hitter Malia Marquardt. Sophomore middle blocker Erica Wilson added four kills of her own to power ASU to a 25-23 opening set win.
Cal was down, but far from finished as it claimed two consecutive sets, 25-14 and 25-20 to lead the match 2-1.
A 26-24 fourth set win by ASU set the stage for a decisive fifth set.
Wilson smashed three more kills as ASU stormed back from a 1-2 deficit to defeat the Golden Bears at Haas Pavilion 15-7 in the final set. The victory over Cal snapped a 16-match losing streak against the Golden Bears dating back to 2002.
Marquardt and Wilson finished with 15 kills apiece, while senior outside hitter Sarah Reaves led the way with 16 kills of her own.
“It wasn’t different from how we play other than us thinking,” Reaves said. “It wasn’t like we played miraculously and everything was perfect. We did have some great plays and we had some bad plays. It was playing good and consistently over time with the exception of that second game where we lost pretty badly.”
In the season finale, the Sun Devils took on Stanford at Maples Pavilion. It was all Cardinal from the get go with senior outside hitter Alix Klineman powering the Stanford offense.
Klineman’s eight kills in the opening set led the Cardinal to a 25-15 win over ASU.
The Sun Devils were unable to stop Stanford in the second frame, as the Cardinal exploded with an early 11-1 lead en route to another 25-15 set victory.
Set three saw nine tie scores and three lead changes with ASU unable to hold 5-2, 12-10, and 22-18 leads. Klineman added five more kills along with senior outside hitter Cassidy Lichtman’s five kills to seal the 25-23 set three win and 3-0 match sweep.
It was a bittersweet end to a season filled with highs and lows for the Sun Devils, who despite splitting the final weekend series, are not moving on to NCAA Tournament play.
“It’s a really good win, and I’m proud of the team and the job we did,” Reaves said. “But nothing’s really as sweet as getting to the tournament and doing well there. It was a good win, but I wish we would have made it further and done a better job in the preseason so we could have gotten that chance.”
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
