Volleyball to open Pac-10 home slate against #21 Oregon and Oregon State

The Arizona State Sun Devils (8-7 overall, 0-2 Pac-10) will return home again this weekend as they set to open the 2007 Pac-10 home slate against the #21 Oregon Ducks (12-2, 1-1 Pac-10) and Oregon State Beavers (8-6, 1-1 Pac-10). The Sun Devils will face the Ducks on Thursday, September 27 and the OSU Beavers on Friday,

September 28. Both games will start at 7 p.m. and will be held at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena.

Follow The Sun Devils Live!:

All of ASU's fans can also follow all of ASU's home matches, and most road matches, via the free statistical GameTracker at www.thesundevils.com. Also available for fans both near and far are video broadcasts of all home matches. For more information please visit: asu.newtier.com .

Recapping Last Weekend:

The Sun Devils open the 2007 Pac-10 season last weekend as they hit the road to L.A. to take on the fourth and fifth-ranked USC Women of Troy and UCLA Bruins. The Sun Devils were unable to rally against the Trojans and Bruins as they fell in both matches 3-0. In the first match against USC, Sydney Donahue collected 17 digs to break the all-time Pac-10 career digs record of 2,071 set by USC's Deborah Seilhamer. Sydney Donahue had 32 digs on the weekend to help her become the holder of the all-time Pac-10 career digs record. She now has 2,099 career digs, 1st all-time in Pac-10 history and tied for 13th all-time in NCAA history.

Series History vs. the Oregon Ducks:

The series history against the Oregon Ducks is 34-8 all-time in favor of the Sun Devils. In last season's match-ups, the Sun Devils split with the Ducks, falling 3-1 in Eugene before reversing the score on the when Oregon came to Tempe.

Series History vs. Oregon State:

Against the Beavers, the Sun Devils are 29-14 all-time. Last season, the Sun Devils swept the Beavers in Corvallis 3-0 before taking the series with a 3-1 win in Tempe.

Quick Sets -- Release Highlights:

• Libero Sydney Donahue has recorded 10 or more digs in 86 of her 100 career matches, including a streak of 50 matches with 10 or more digs dating back to October 21, 2005 vs. USC.

• Sydney Donahue also currently holds the Pac-10 lead in digs and digs per game. After three weeks

Donahue has 354 digs for a 6.32 per-game average. She currently holds the Pac-10 single-game match high total as well with 45 against Virginia on August 25th.

• ASU has the current Pac-10 match high for kills with their 88 against Utah Valley. They also pulled in a team match-high of 98 digs in the Utah Valley face-off.

• Sophomore, Marina Mercer holds the season Pac-10 match-high for assists with her 73 against Utah Valley.

• Sophomore Paige Mittelstaedt is tied for lead in the Pac-10 for solo blocks in a match with her four against Iowa State on September 1st. She is also tied for third in single-match kill total with her 26 against Utah Valley.

Brains and Brawn These Girls Have It All:

The Sun Devil Volleyball team has proven year after year that they are some of the best on the court and also in the classroom. ASU holds the proud title of MOST Pac-

10 All-Academic selections in history with 40 over every other Pac-10 school. They also have a ten-year streak of at least one honor on the Pac-10 All-Academic team.

Leading the list last year were Colette Meek and Marina Mercer, who both were named to the first-team and Rachel Mittlestaedt who was named to the second team.

Four other Sun Devils received honorable mentions as well.

Digging Her Way To The Top:

Senior libero Sydney Donahue is on pace to place her name all over not only ASU (which she already has) and Pac-10 record books, but the NCAA ones as well. The senior currently has the single-season ASU and Pac-10 digs record and has already this year broken the career Pac-10 digs record, while inching up the NCAA records as well. Her current total of 2,099 puts her 13th all-time in NCAA history. Last season alone, Donahue had 742 digs as well as tying an all-time NCAA record of 50 digs in a match, which she did in three games against LMU on August 26, 2006.

A Tough Schedule:

As always, ASU is set to face a tough slate for the 2007 season. Aside from being in the all-powerful Pac-10, ASU jumped from an RPI of 152 to 30 in a successful year which found them later in the NCAA Tournament. The jump itself is one of the highest in the history of NCAA Volleyball alone. This year the Devils look to jump yet again in the RPI rankings, taking on a tougher and tougher schedule every year.

Head Coach Brad Saindon:

Head Coach Brad Saindon is in his fifth season at the helm of the Sun Devil Volleyball program. Saindon has compiled a 43-70 record at ASU and an all-time 287-210 record in 16 seasons at the collegiate level. He coached the University of Colorado to a 181-112 record from 1986-96, leading the Buffalos to six NCAA Tournaments and two Sweet 16 appearances. He was also the head coach of the Australian Women's National Team in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Saindon graduated from ASU in 1976 with a degree in business administration.