(Photo: Zac Pacleb/WCSN)
The No. 22 Sun Devils will host the No. 17 UCLA Bruins for the this Thanksgiving-eve at 4:00 p.m. in Wells Fargo Arena.
The Bruins have the exact opposite conference record than the Sun Devils at 10-8. For both teams, the wins have not come easy this year as every week is a challenge. Getting closer to the national tournament, both teams will be fighting for a spot and the best seed possible.
Last weekend, the Bruins took a trip up to Oregon where they went 1-1, losing to No. 13 Oregon and beating unranked Oregon State.
Similar to UCLA, ASU also went 1-1 as they survived against unranked Washington State and then ended up being swept by No. 5 Washington.
This will be the first time these two teams play each other this season, and it should be a battle as the stakes get higher in the final weekend of Pac-12 play.
What to Expect
Both teams are pretty similar, because they both have go-to hitters that get set more than anyone else and do so in dominant fashion.
For the Sun Devils it is junior outside hitter Macey Gardner who has 1,358 attack attempts on the season which is 548 more than the next person in line.
It is hard to find a game where Gardner does not disappoint as she leads the team in kills with 525 and doesn’t miss matches as she has played in all 122 sets.
For the Bruins it is the extremely dangerous senior outside hitter Karsta Lowe who has been dominant so far this season. Lowe just won her fifth Pac-12 player of the week award breaking a school record and catching the eyes of opposing coaches as they do as much as they can to stop her. Teams haven’t been able to stop her yet, as she has 590 kills and a .314 hitting percentage.
Lowe also leads the nation in kills per set (5.96).
Expect long rallies, a tight game and the setters to spread the ball around, as both teams have heavy fire power to set to. When it gets down to the wire expect to see the ball go more toward Gardner and Lowe from both the front and the back row.
Prediction
The game will be determined by which team can play the longest, win the long rallies and dig the most balls. As freshman libero Halle Harker and the rest of ASU’s defensive core get better and better every match, I believe they have the advantage in this game even though UCLA looks better in the rankings. The Sun Devils will pull out a win in a five-set grudge match.
