After three full seasons at Arizona State, senior outside hitter BreElle Bailey has left the program, and will transfer according to a source.
“We just had a significant teammate decide to not play anymore,” sophomore setter Kylie Pickrell said. “We had the same thing last season as well. These are those elements that you don’t expect to happen. Now we know how to deal with it. We know what to expect of ourselves.”
Bailey, who was set to be an integral part of this year’s offense, decided to leave the team earlier this week. The decision comes on the heels of her spending time with the Pac-12 Volleyball All-Star team this summer as they traveled to China.
In her three years with the Sun Devils, Bailey amassed 908 kills to go along with 257 total blocks, 48 of which were solo blocks.
The loss will hurt the Sun Devils in a few aspects. On one hand, they lose valuable senior experience. With Bailey transferring, Cassidy Pickrell and Mia Mazon become the lone two returning seniors on the roster. The loss also leaves the Sun Devils with no one taller than 6-2 on the roster, which could present a problem as the team heads into Pac-12 play in a few weeks.
Regardless, the focus shifts to Friday as the team gets set to open up the 2016-2017 season against Fairfield University.
“We are fired up to go to New Mexico tomorrow morning and play against somebody that is not ourselves,” head coach Stevie Mussie said.
