Volleyball to host Annual Pink-Out and Pac-10 foes USC and UCLA

October 15, 2008

The Arizona State Sun Devil Women’s Volleyball Team (10-8 overall, 1-4 Pac-10) return to the friendly confines of Wells Fargo Arena this weekend to take on a pair of lethal opponents in the 11th-ranked USC Women of Troy (9-5 overall, 2-3 Pac-10) and the 10th-ranked UCLA Bruins (12-4 overall, 2-3 Pac-10) this Friday and Saturday, October 17 & 18. The Sun Devils face USC on Friday night at 7 p.m. before looking to wrap-up the weekend on Saturday night, facing UCLA at 7 p.m. Both matches will be held at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.<separator></separator>Friday night's match-up versus USC will be ASU Volleyball's Annual Pink-Out night to raise Breast Cancer Awareness. Anyone wearing pink to the match will receive a discounted admission.<separator></separator>Recapping Last Weekend: Against #5 Cal: The Sun Devils came out swinging hard against the Golden Bears last Friday as they collected their best attack percentage all match. The effort was no match for Hana Cutura who collected 14 kills and three service aces. Leading for the Sun Devils on the night was <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/reaves_sarah00.html">S… Reaves</a> with seven kills and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/todorovich_sara00.html… Todorovich</a> with five blocks. The Golden Bears blasted a .333 team attack percentage en route to a 25-16, 25-12 and 25-21 win.<separator></separator>Against #4 Stanford: The story remained mostly the same against the Cardinal, another 2007 Final Four team. Stanford compiled a .323 attack percentage against the Sun Devils with 15 blocks to stifl e the Sun Devil offense. Margie Giordano led the Sun Devil assault with 11 kills while <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/markanovich_sonja00.ht… Markanovich</a> grabbed three block assists with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/todorovich_sara00.html… Todorovich</a> and Sofie Schlagintweit right behind her with two apiece. In the end the Cardinal got it done though, with a 25-18, 25-13 and 25-16 win.<separator></separator>Scouting This Weekend’s Competition/Series History: #11 USC Women of Troy: The Women of Troy entered the 2008 season with a full arsenal of weapons, returning four starters and a libero from the 2007 season which saw them go 29-5 overall and finish their season ranked third in the nation and make it as far as the NCAA Semifinal match.<separator></separator>Names to note on the court for USC are freshman stand-out Alex Jupiter who leads the offensive assault with 184 kills with a .239 attack percentage. Guiding her along is Taylor Carico, who’s set up 522 successful attacks this season and looking for more.<separator></separator>Last weekend against the Washington schools, the USC dominated, sweeping away Washington State before taking #10 Washington to five sets and just faltering against the Huskies in their third conference loss.<separator></separator>ASU’s all-time history against USC is a bit in the favor of USC, who lead the series 35-9.<separator></separator>#10 UCLA Bruins: The Bruins boast a similar record as their Hollywood counterparts after dominating the Washington State in a sweep before batting Washington to five and losing. A 2007 NCAA Regional finalist, UCLA went 23-11 overall and 9-9 in conference play.<separator></separator>Getting it done for the Bruins this year is Dicey McGraw, a sophomore outside hitter leading the squad with 161 kills and a .249 attack percentage. Setting her up for success is senior setter Nellie Spicer with 592 assists to her name this season.<separator></separator>All time against the powerhouse of UCLA is a tough one for ASU as UCLA leads 40-4.