No. 6 ASU women’s volleyball defeated No. 8 Stanford for the first time since 2000, winning 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19).
Senior outside hitter Macey Gardner finished with 22 kills and a .286 hitting percentage. She is 13 kill away from breaking the all-time ASU kills record.
“Her performance tonight was one of the best performances I’ve seen in a real long time,” ASU head coach Jason Watson said. “I’m in awe of her performance.”
This high praise came with a result Gardner has waited for throughout her career: a win.
She said that her and senior middle blocker Whitney Follette shared a moment after the match.
“After four years of playing each other, this is the first win we’ve had against them,” Gardner said in the press conference.
Stanford was a good team; its players were more well-rounded than perhaps any other team ASU has played this season.
Its two season kill-leaders combined for 26 kills, but two others presented consistent difficulties to the Sun Devils.
Freshman libero Halland McKenna led a strong back row defense. She was quick and had good control of digs.
ASU sophomore libero Halle Harker outplayed McKenna. She finished with 23 digs, nine more than McKenna. Additionally, Follette noted her serve success.
“She has a short-long series,” Follette said. “That got them rattled a bit.”
6-foot, 8-inch senior middle blocker Merete Lutz gave ASU a giant challenge. In the first set, she jumped too early for a ball, landed, and then managed to tip it up.
Follette said she had to attack Lutz’ angles and get touches on the balls while slowing down her short shots.
Lutz finished with 15 kills on a whopping .419 hitting percentage.
On the other side, freshman setter Kylie Pickrell returned to the lineup for ASU after sitting out with a knee injury. It marked the return of the 6-2 offense for the Sun Devils.
The first set was tight. ASU’s 21-18 lead was the first time either team led by more than two points.
Follette followed a Lutz whiff with a powerful ace, then another good serve led to a bad Stanford receipt.
Gardner finished the set with consecutive kills. She had seven in the set with only one error. ASU won 25-21.
The second set was a game of runs.
ASU started set two with the momentum it gained at the end of set one, going on a 5-1 run to begin the match. However, Stanford went on two long runs: its 8-3 run grabbed the lead, and then a late 7-1 run put them up 20-14.
Led by Follette, ASU fought back. The middle blocker had two kills and two block assists, pushing the team to a 6-0 run and tying the score at 20.
Stanford broke into a sprint in the final lap with a 3-0 run. It won 25-22.
Macey Gardner took over in game three, getting seven kills and hitting .333 in the set alone.
Follette and junior outside hitters Cassidy Pickrell and Kizzy Ricedorff took ASU on a 9-1 run early in the final set. The three combined for six kills and four total blocks in the span, grabbing the lead and escalating it to 16-8.
Follette finished with 12 kills on a .526 hitting percentage.
ASU won the set 25-19.
The 3-1 win over Stanford increased the Sun Devil’s record to 14-0. It’s ASU’s first 3-0 start in Pac-12 play since 1986.
“We figured put what they were doing in those tight situations,” Gardner said. “There were some head games out there… I think we did a good job steadying (emotions) and picking them apart.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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