(Photo: Elaine Wilson/WCSN)
The No. 10 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils are already off to their best start since 1985 (9-0), and had a convincing 3-0 sweep over UNLV on Friday to start off the Sun Devil Invitational. ASU will continue its home tournament playing its second game of the weekend against Texas Southern University at noon on Saturday.
The match will be a bit of unfamiliar territory for both teams. The Lady Tigers, who are members of the SWAC conference, come in with a record of 2-6 on the young season, while the Sun Devils come in undefeated at 9-0.
The first matchup that stands out is the overall depth between the two teams. TSU has gotten off to fairly fast starts this year, but have struggled to find long term success in matches being outscored a combined 435-368 in sets two through four.
On the flip side, ASU thrives on depth and seem to get stronger as the game goes on. It has a deep rotation and get production up and down the lineup.
The player to watch for TSU is junior middle blocker Kali Fluke. Fluke is both an offensive and defensive leader for the Tigers as she paces the team in both kills per set with 2.61 and 1.32 blocks per set.
An aspect of the game that ASU looks to capitalize on is defense.The Sun Devils are the second-best blocking team in the nation, averaging 3.3 blocks per set. Texas Southern, as a team, will have to improve offensively as they only average 9.5 kills and 8.6 assists per set.
As an extension of that defensive prowess, look for senior middle blocker Whitney Follette to potentially move into the top-five in career block assists. She currently sits at No. 6 right now, two block assists behind fifth and three behind fourth. For total blocks, Follette is also currently No. 6 all-time, only three behind Sonja Markanovich for fifth on the ASU leaderboard.
This could also potentially be a day for senior setter Bianca Arellano to move up on the career assists list. As of Friday, she has 2,686 for her career, good for eighth all-time. She is just 12 assists behind Tiffannie Johnson-Gates for seventh.
The match will be the first of two that the Sun Devils play on Saturday, the second of which being a top-10 matchup against No. 6 Illinois at 7 p.m. in Wells Fargo Arena.
You can reach Andre on twitter @that1guyandre or email him at asimms2@asu.edu
