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Six Duals This Week For Sand Devils, Two At Home On Thursday

by thesundevils.com
Mar 22, 2022

TEMPE, Ariz. – It is a busy week for Sun Devil Beach Volleyball as the Sand Devils host two ranked teams on Thursday in the Sun Devil Beach Volleyball Facility before traveling down to Tucson for the second time this season to compete in the Pac-12 South Invitational to face four more ranked opponents on Saturday and Sunday.

Thursday will be the second day of competition at the new facility, which is free to the public. It will feature matchups with No. 7 Grand Canyon at 1 p.m. MST and No. 8 Stanford at 5 p.m. MST. There will also be neutral site duals between Stanford and Washington at 11 a.m. MST and Washington and GCU at 3 p.m. MST. All four duals will be live on Pac-12 Insider, with live scoring available as well. Fans are encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets as there are no bleachers or seats.

The Pac-12 South Invitational this weekend will see ASU facing four conference opponents. Arizona State will play No. 11 Cal at 12:30 p.m. MST and No. 2 USC at 7 p.m. MST on Saturday. Sunday will see a second matchup against No. 8 Stanford this week at 2:15 p.m. MST before taking on the host team No. 17 Arizona at 4:15 p.m. MST. All duals will be live on the Pac-12 Network. 

Sun Devil Outlook
Arizona State (10-6, 2-0 Pac-12)

  • The Sand Devils went 3-1 last weekend at TCU's Fight in the Fort tournament. The lone loss came against the undefeated host team.
  • Fifth-year senior Cierra Flood reached another milestone with her 60th career win. That put her in third place in the ASU record books. Meanwhile, junior Lexi Sweeney moved up to 13th with 26 wins while fellow junior Sarah Waters is in 14th with 25. As a pair, sophomores Taryn Ames and Kate Fitzgerald are in eight place for career pair wins.
  • Arizona State will look to preserve its home courts after going 2-0 on the home opener earlier this month. Additionally, the team is one more victory away from beating last year's win total.

Opponent Outlook
No. 7 Grand Canyon (12-4)

  • GCU recorded ranked wins earlier this season against No. 8 Stanford, No. 11 Cal Poly, No. 13 Georgia State, No. 11 FAU, and No. 20 Tulane. The Lopes are coming off a pair of wins against Tulane and UAB.
  • ASU and GCU met earlier this season and the Sun Devils lost 4-1. The two programs have met a total of five times with GCU winning three.

No. 8 Stanford (4-4)

  • The Cardinal have recorded four wins with three of them being against ranked opponents: No. 10 Hawaii, #11 Cal Poly, and #14 Long Beach State.
  • ASU and Stanford met last season with the Cardinal winning 3-1. The two teams have met a total of 11 with ASU winning three of the matches.

No. 11 California (12-4)

  • The Bears are currently on a four-game win streak. Earlier this season Cal won against ranked opponents No. 15 Long Beach State and No. 9 Hawaii.
  • Last season, ASU beat Cal 3-2. The two programs have met nine times with Cal recording six wins.

No. 3 USC (10-1)

  • The reigning national champion Trojans are on a nine-game win streak and have won against eight ranked opponents.
  • The last time the two met, USC won 5-0. The Trojans and Sun Devils have met 11 times with the Trojans winning all 11. 

No. 17 Arizona (7-3)

  • The Wildcats went 2-1 at the Cal Poly Invitational on Monday, the lone loss coming against the host team.
  • The last time ASU and U of A met the Sun Devils won 3-2. The two rivals have competed a total of 14 matches with the Wildcats winning 12.

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