Oct. 14, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State sophomore middle blocker Staci Smith led the Sun Devils with 11 kills, but the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal proved to be too much in three-game sweep of the Sun Devils Friday night in Pac-10 Volleyball action at Wells Fargo Arena. Game scores were 30-22, 30-23, 30-19 in favor of the defending national champion Cardinal.
ASU dropped its sixth straight match to fall to 6-11 overall and 1-6 in Pac-10 play. Stanford rebounded from a five-game loss Thursday night to No. 12 Arizona to improve to 17-3 overall and 6-2 in league play.
Smith (Gresham, Ore.) recorded a team-high 11 kills on a .261 hitting percentage. She also tallied one service ace in the defeat. Sophomore defensive specialist Alison Lund (Bowie, Md.) led the Sun Devils with 13 digs and junior outside hitter Nina Reeves (Gilbert, Ariz.) added 11.
The Cardinal were led by their powerful freshman combination of Cynthia Barboza and Foluke Akinradewo. Barboza had 14 kills on a .375 hitting percentage, while Akinradewo had seven kills and five total blocks. Junior Kristin Richards added 11 kills and 11 digs. Setter Bryn Kehoe led all players with 42 assists.
The Sun Devils return to action next weekend traveling to USC (Oct. 21) and UCLA (Oct. 21). Beginning with ASU's matches this weekend, the Sun Devils are in a stretch of playing 10 of 11 matches against ranked opponents.
--Sun Devil Volleyball--