The hobbled came out this weekend and shined for the ASU volleyball team as the Sun Devils took both of their matches from the Oregon schools.
Senior Juliana Escobar, despite being banged up, led the team in kills for the weekend. The outside hitter recorded 16 kills in Friday's three-game sweep of Oregon and led the team with 22 kills in the five-game win over Oregon State on Saturday.
Throughout the year, the former first-team Pac-10 selection has been marred by multiple injuries, from a bad back to bad knees. This week in practice, Escobar worked in a limited capacity, and the coaching and training staff restricted her jumping.
ASU's other injured outside hitter, junior Natalie Harris, came up big as well. Harris was just short of Escobar with 21 kills in Saturday's match against Oregon State and had 12 kills against Oregon. Harris was diagnosed earlier in the week with the start of a stress fracture in her leg and has been in noticeable pain since.
Friday's win over the lowly Ducks snapped ASU's season-high four-game losing streak. The loss dropped Oregon to 3-15 overall and 0-9 in Pac-10 play.
Along with Escobar's 16 kills against Oregon, the senior had only two errors on 26 attacks and fell just one dig shy of recording her 10th double-double of the year. Senior middle blocker Mandy Stephens finished the night with 11 kills and no errors, and senior libero Courtney Blocher led all players with 12 digs.
Saturday's win over Oregon State wasn't the cakewalk the game against the Ducks was. After losing the first game 31-29, the Sun Devils had one of their most impressive games following the loss. ASU recorded 17 kills, with just two errors and an attack percentage of .500 as the team dominated the Beavers 30-16.
Escobar and Harris' performances in the match marked the first time since the 2002 NCAA Tournament that a pair of Sun Devils finished with more than 20 kills each.
Stephens finished the Oregon State match with a season-high 15 kills and a .379 hitting percentage. Blocher set a new season-high mark with 22 digs, her eighth career match with at least 20 digs.
The Sun Devils are next in action Saturday in Tucson against rival Arizona. The last time the two teams hooked up, ASU won in dramatic fashion at home, digging out of a 2-0 hole for a five-game win.
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
