Sept. 15, 2002
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- The Arizona State Volleyball team rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win the next three games and earn a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Texas Tech to claim the Red Raider Classic Championship Sunday afternoon at the United Spirit Arena. Game scores in the match were 25-30, 27-30, 30-25, 30-23, 16-14.
After dropping the first two games to the Red Raiders, ASU stormed back to tie the match with victories in the third and fourth games. The Devils jumped ahead to decisive leads of 5-1 and 10-5, but couldn't shake the Red Raiders as the game was eventually tied at 14-14. A kill by junior outside hitter Kim Mehlhorn (Tempe, Ariz.) gave ASU a 15-14 lead and then Mehlhorn and senior setter Fernanda Habiger (Cruzeira, Brazil) blocked an Ann Romjue attack to seal the victory.
Arizona State improved to 4-1 with the victory, matching the program's longest winning streak (4 matches) in the last two years. ASU also improved to 3-0 this year in five-game matches. The Red Raiders, coached by former ASU assistant Jeff Nelson, dropped to 4-4 overall with the loss and are now 1-5 all-time vs. the Sun Devils.
"We played a great three-game match, but, only thing was it was in the last three games of the match," said head coach Patti Snyder-Park. "We didn't wake up until the third game, but we really put it together at the end and had some players really step up. (Fernanda) Habiger really jump-started our offense and provided a spark for our team. It is nice to go into our conference schedule with some wins and big-game experience under our belt."
Junior outside hitter Juliana Escobar once again led the Sun Devils with her fourth double-double of the season, recording 22 kills, 16 digs and four service aces (26.5 points). Mehlhorn added her second double-double in as many days with 13 kills and 13 digs. Senior middle blocker Julia Leddy (Mesa, Ariz.) added 11 kills and two blocks in the victory. Habiger, who was used as a front-row blocker in substitute of normal starting setter Cheryl Anglin (Queen Creek, Ariz.), dished out 30 assists to lead the Sun Devils for the first time in her career.
Leddy was named the tournament MVP after averaging 2.90 kills and hitting .299 in the two games. Escobar (4.30 kpg, 3.10 dpg) and Mehlhorn (2.80 kpg, 2.40 dpg) were also named to the all-tournament team.
The Sun Devils, now with 498 victories in the program's 30 years of competition, will make their home debut this weekend by hosting second-ranked USC (Friday, 7 p.m.) and No. 14 UCLA (Saturday, 7 p.m.). --Sun Devil Volleyball--