After losing to nationally ranked California and Stanford at home last week, the Sun Devil volleyball team faces two more tough opponents: No. 1 USC and No. 8 UCLA on the road in Los Angeles this weekend.
USC is the most dominant team in women's college volleyball, winning 26 consecutive matches and receiving all 65 first-place votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. They are the defending national champions and would consider anything less than a repeat disappointing.
ASU head coach Brad Saindon reviewed film of USC playing Washington State last week and said the Women of Troy made the Cougars "look foolish." In the Sun Devils' only match against Washington State, the Sun Devils were swept.
"They know how to win," Saindon said of USC. "My interests in playing USC are with regards to whether we can play at the level we're capable of, or if we're going to kind of turn it off, like we did against Stanford."
"I'm hoping we learned something from that and look them in the eye and face up to it and compete our asses off," Saindon added.
There is no one "go-to" player for the Trojans, who have one of the deepest teams in the country. Three players average over three kills per game and three average more than one block per game.
USC does have a few Valley connections as two juniors, Alicia Robinson (Central High) and Emily Adams (Xavier Prep), are originally from Arizona. The two also have famous fathers who played for the Phoenix Suns, Truck Robinson and Alvan Adams.
UCLA is no slouch, either. The Bruins are currently ranked in the top 10 and are riding the momentum of a successful trip to the Washington schools.
The Bruins have seen success this season, with their only losses coming to No. 2 Hawaii and USC.
UCLA middle blocker Brynn Murphy, last week's Pac-10 Player of the Week, leads the Bruins. The junior is leading the team in kills with just under four per game and is second on the team with a .357 attack percentage and 0.94 blocks per game.
ASU and UCLA split the season series in 2002 with the home team winning each match.
"I think we know that [UCLA is] beatable if we play our game," said junior outside hitter Natalie Harris, who leads ASU in kills.
The Sun Devils relatively are healthy coming into the weekend road trip, with only senior Jodi Proctor (knee injury) expected to miss the matches. Senior Juliana Escobar is not at full strength but is expected to start.
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
