(Photo: Blake Benard/WCSN)
No. 10 Arizona State received devastating news Monday when senior outside hitter Macey Gardner was ruled out for the season after being diagnosed with a torn ACL, torn meniscus and a strained MCL, according to ASU head coach Jason Watson.
Gardner became ASU’s all-time kills leader on October 4 against Cal and was 112 kills away from becoming the first Sun Devil to reach 2,000 career kills. She went down with the injury in the second set of ASU’s loss to No. 4 Washington in Seattle. The severity of the injury was not determined until today when team doctors were able to evaluate the star outside hitter.
The news of the injury caps off a miserable four-day stretch for the Sun Devils, who lost its first two matches of the season to Washington and Washington State. ASU is now 15-2 (4-2 in Pac-12) and will have to figure out a way to amend for the loss of its best player.
Gardner was recently named the AVCA National Player of the Week.
Replacing Gardner is no easy task, but the likes of junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell and potentially freshman outside hitter Lexi MacLean will be called upon to step up in her place. Pickrell is second on the team with 58 kills.
MacLean hadn’t seen any action until ASU’s loss to Washington State on Sunday, but the freshman responded with eight kills and 10 digs.
ASU travels to Southern California this weekend to take on No. 1 USC and No. 12 UCLA. The Sun Devils are well on their way to a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, but the road to becoming one of the 16 teams who host the first- and second-round matches has become dramatically tougher.
You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com
