Oct. 21, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Behind a strong 38-kill effort from senior outside hitter Amanda Burbridge, the Arizona State Sun Devil volleyball team defeated the Washington Huskies 3-1 Saturday night in Pac-10 volleyball action at Wells Fargo Arena on the ASU campus
The 15-8, 15-6, 10-15, 15-13 victory over the Huskies gave ASU their first season sweep (four matches) of the Washington schools since 1992. The Sun Devils now sit alone in fourth place in the Pac-10 with a 6-5 record, 14-7 overall.
One night of shattering previous school records just wasn't enough for Burbridge, so to back up a 39-kill effort vs. WSU on Saturday, the senior tallied 38 more against Washington that would have also broken the 18-year-old school record of 35 set in 1982. Burbridge (Scottsdale) nearly tied her record set Friday, but settled for 38 kills in the four-game win over the Huskies. For the weekend, the outside hitter tallied 77 kills for an amazing 8.56 kpg average. The senior also added 19 digs and four solo blocks in the victory over UW. With the 8.56 kpg average for the two matches, Burbridge is a strong candidate for Pac-10 and National Player of the Week honors. The last ASU player to gain Pac-10 Player of the Week honors was current assistant coach Christine Garner in 1995. To add to her already numerous accolades, Burbridge also moved into fourth place in the ASU career record books with 1,428 kills. Burbridge has tallied double-digit kills in each of her 19 matches played in '00, six of which she has recorded at least 20 kills and 20 digs, and two were 30-20 matches.
Despite going four games against the Huskies (5-13, 1-10 Pac-10) the Sun Devils played well offensively to out-hit the Dawgs .335-.254. Senior middle blocker Michelle Mortensen (Chandler) added a solid match with 17 kills and hit .438 (17-3-32) to lead the Devils in that category. Sophomore Julia Leddy (Mesa) had 16 kills and junior outside hitter Jami Coughlin (Glendale) had 13 to round out the four ASU player with double-digit kills.
Another solid match was turned in my freshman setter Cheryl Anglin (Queen Creek) who put her name on the single-match record list for the fifth time in only 21 career matches. The freshman tallied 67 assists against the Huskies, her fifth consecutive over-60 assist match, and now has 1,056 in her freshman campaign, only six short of the freshman school record set by Regina Stahl (1,062) in 1984. Freshman defensive specialist Courtney Blocher (Scottsdale), a high school teammate of Anglin at Valley Christian High School, dug a career high 17 balls to help pace the ASU defensive attack.
ASU will next play Stanford and California on the road next weekend in two pivotal Pac-10 matches. ASU beat the Cardinal earlier in the year for the first time since 1993, but surprisingly dropped the match to the Golden Bears in four games. ASU is 10-1 on the road in '00 and with five remaining road matches and two home dates, are looking for a strong finish to make a return to the NCAA tournament. UW (5-13) 8 6 15 13 ASU (14-7) 15 15 10 15 ASU Statistical Leaders: KILLS: Burbridge (38), Mortensen (17), Leddy (16) ASSISTS: Anglin (67) TOTAL BLOCKS: Leddy (5), Burbridge (5) SERVICE ACES: Blocher (3) Attendance: 535