Mittlestadt leads volleyball over UC Irvine

A career day from Paige Mittelstaedt who had 14 kills and 11 blocks, powered the Sun Devil Volleyball team to a 3-1 win over the UC Irvine Anteaters Saturday morning as the Sun Devils finished the final day of the Portland Nike Invitational with a second-place finish and a current record of 5-2 to wrap the second week of the 2008 season.

Head Coach Jason Watson was pleased with the Sun Devils performance this weekend quoting, “We had another good day today and we played well against a talented UC Irvine team. Overall, we had a great weekend and we continue to better ourselves in each match. We look forward to next weekend and returning home to compete for our fans in Tempe.”

In set one the Sun Devils took the first point and hit cruise control, hitting .385 as a team and going on a 6-2 scoring tear at one point, as Paige Mittelstaedt and Margie Giordano led the line with four kills apiece and Sarah Johnson the defense with five digs as ASU took the first set 25-17.

Set two A State repeated their performance hitting .333 on the set with Margie Giordano lighting it up with six of ASU’s 15 kills in the set with Sarah Johnson digging the Devil D six balls as UC Irvine rallied back to hang tough with ASU with two lead changes and 12 tie scores, but the Devils pulled it out in the end with a 25-22 win.

Four lead changes and a Anteater rally late in the set proved costly for the Sun Devils as their consistent offense through the first two sets faltered with errors as UCI posted a .215 attack percentage, matching ASU’s 15 kills in the set as the ‘Eaters squeezed out an extra points 27-25 win from ASU.

The Sun Devils rallied back in the fourth set though with UCI taking the first point with ASU following with 14 tie scores before a final lead change for the better with a kill from Sara Todorovich to take the 19-18 lead and going on a five point tear from there before Margie Giordano put away the win with a match-ending ace to take the 25-21 win.

Junior, Paige Mittelstadt with her one solo and 10 block assists collected a career high in today’s match against the Anteaters, her second highest total behind that is seven from a 2007 match versus Iowa State.

The win wraps ASU’s stint at the 2008 Portland Nike Invitational as the Sun Devils return home to host their second tournament of the season with the ASU Sheraton Invitational coming to Tempe featuring Montana, Cincinnati and Cal State Northridge. Matches will be played on September 12 and 13 at ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena.