(Photo: Steve Rodriguez/ASU Athletics)
On Friday morning, ASU volleyball will take on Louisville to start off the Comfort Inn & Suites Invitational in Morehead, Kentucky. The Sun Devils rose to No. 15 in the AVCA’s polls this week, marking the second straight season in which they’ve been ranked as high as No. 15.
The Louisville Cardinals were ranked as highly as No. 24 as recently as last week, but were unranked in this week’s polls after dropping two straight to fall to 3-3. The highlight of the young season for the Cardinals came in their opening weekend on the road against then-No. 12 Minnesota. In a thrilling 4-set victory, redshirt junior Laura Blab led the team with 15 kills.
Louisville proved with that win that it’s capable of playing up to the competition, but with losses to Appalachian State and Kentucky, it’s also capable of playing down. Part of the infrequency may be lent to the fact that there are three every-night contributors on the floor who are new to the team.
Freshman Tess Clark is hitting an impressive .417, and North Carolina State-transfer Laura Blab also has been stepping up for the Cards, most notably with her clutch performance against Minnesota. And freshman Maddie DeJong has been another quality option for the offense to turn to throughout the season.
Sophomore outside hitter Maya McClendon is the anchor for this offense, though, leading the way with 73 kills on the season.
What To Watch For
Louisville will be looking to spread the ball around, as this is an offense that relies on so many different outside hitters for its production. While McClendon may lead the team in kills, there are a deep number of options for Cardinals’ setter Katie George to look to.
Arizona State, on the other hand, is going to counter that with power play from its stars. Junior outside hitter Macey Gardner will always be the go-to option on this offense. But she’s not the only star, as sophomore outside hitters BreElle Bailey and Kizzy Willey have both become instrumental pieces in the offense, while the emergence of junior middle blockers Whitney Follette and Mercedes Binns has been another indicator that things are heating up in Tempe.
Keep an eye on the service game in this one as well. The Sun Devils are scorching hot from the service line in 2014, leading all Pac-12 teams with 41 total aces on the season. This makes for a very difficult return, and the Cardinals will need to bring their A-game in that regard to avoid having the Sun Devil servers have their way in this match-up.
Prediction
ASU takes this one in four sets, winning three straight after dropping the first. Sometimes this ASU team takes a moment to wake up, but this top 15 ranking is no fluke. Setter Bianca Arellano should continue to look to her middles and fuel them while they’re hot, and the Cardinals won’t have an answer.
