(Photo: Hannah Franklin/WCSN)
No. 10 ASU wraps up its Southern California road trip this Sunday against No. 12 UCLA at 1:30 pm.
The Sun Devils are currently searching for a replacement for senior outside hitter Macey Gardner. ASU is coming off a four-set loss against No. 1 USC. In that match, the Sun Devils tried making a few different adjustments with their lineup. The Sun Devils came out in the game starting senior middle blocker Whitney Follette at opposite. To replace Follette at the middle ASU started senior middle blocker Andi Lowrance. Freshman outside hitter Lexi MacLean also made her first career start.
Follette played well and finished the match with 13 kills at a .235 clip.
The UCLA Bruins are coming off an easy sweep of the Arizona Wildcats. The Bruins are led by junior outside hitter Jordan Anderson, who is having a good season all around. The 6-foot outside has 270 kills on the season and is averaging a whopping 4.91 kills per set. It will be up to the more than capable ASU blocking to shut a hitter like that down.
UCLA has had some fluidity in its setting position. During this season, UCLA used freshman setter Zana Muno who played 31 sets and averaged 9.13 assists per set, but recently, the Bruins have switched over to redshirt sophomore setter Ryann Chandler who has now played 37 sets on the season. She averages 9.89 assists per set and will cause some challenges for the ASU defense.
In order for ASU to find itself on top of this game, the team will have to come out with the passion and fire it finished the USC game with. Losing a key player to a team is never easy to endure, but the Sun Devils hope they may have figured out their answers.
