COLLEGE

Territorial Cup Series opens with No. 19 ASU volleyball at No. 18 UA

Jeff Metcalfe
azcentral sports
ASU's Macey Gardner.

For Macey Gardner, non-conference college volleyball is like the honeymoon phase of marriage.

"Where you're like I love everyone and we're just great together, we're sisters," the Arizona State junior hitting star said. "Conference play is just dog-eat-dog world."

Especially in the Pac-12, with seven teams in the AVCA coaches Top 25 including No. 19 ASU (10-2) and No. 18 Arizona (11-1). The rivals play in the first of two meetings at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Tucson, starting the 2014-15 Territorial Cup Series that ASU won 11.5 points to 8.5 in 2013-14. They split their indoor volleyball point last year.

The last meeting between ASU and UA volleyball when both teams were ranked was in 2002 (a 3-0 UA win). ASU's last win over a ranked UA team was in 1995 (3-2).

UA's only loss is to No. 2 Texas. ASU fell to unranked Louisville on Sept. 12 and lost in five sets Friday to No. 7 Colorado State in its first match without middle blocker Whitney Follette, out four to six weeks after having her appendix removed.

Madi Kingdon, UA senior outside hitter from Phoenix, is among the national leaders in kills per set (5.68). Gardner's kills are down — from 4.56 per set last season to 3.53 — but that's more reflective of ASU's offensive distribution and balance than a dropoff on her part. Without Follette, though, and against Pac-12 opposition, Gardner likely will need to carry a larger load.

"Probably all 12 teams think they're ready," ASU coach Jason Watson said. "The reality is the margins get really, really slim. I feel good where we're at, but we've got to clean up a bunch of things if we're going to rise to the level of expectations that are upon us (fourth in Pac-12 preseason coaches poll). "We're still a work in progress."

No. 1 UCLA soccer at ASU

No. 24 ASU soccer (7-1-1) goes into Pac-12 play on a six-match win streak, its longest since 2003. The Sun Devils lead the Pac-12 in most offensive categories but face No. 1 UCLA, a defensive power, in their conference opener at 4 p.m. Friday in Tempe.

Going into a Sunday night match, defending national champion UCLA (7-0-1) had seven shutouts behind goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland including 1-0 Friday at Texas. ASU tied the Longhorns 2-2 in Hawaii on Aug. 22. Both teams beat Hawaii: 5-2 ASU and 6-0 UCLA.

Cali Farquharson scored her team-leading eighth goal Friday in ASU's 2-0 win at Cal State-Northridge. The Sun Devils were without Aly Moon (seven goals) because of a hit she took in practice.

UA soccer completed its non-conference play Sunday with a 3-0 win over Idaho. The Wildcats are 6-1-1 under second-year coach Tony Amato and open in the Pac-12 at home against USC on Friday.

Freshman midfielder Gabi Stoian of Scottsdale leads UA with seven goals and 18 points. Senior forward Ali Doller of Tempe had two goals and an assist Sunday, raising her point total to 10.

Around the state

Northern Arizona volleyball dropped a pair of 3-0 matches at Hawaii, just outside the AVCA Top 25, but still takes a 9-2 record into the start of Big Sky Conference play.

"This is a program-building weekend for us in the sense that we're not used to playing in these types of matches in this kind of environment against this caliber of team," coach Ken Murphy said. "It's so apparent that we learned so much from the first point until the last point from an improvement (on the court) to our understanding of what we're capable of. There were a lot of positives."

• The cross country season shifts into high gear Saturday with ASU at the Griak Invitational in Minneapolis. The NAU men are No. 2 nationally in the coaches poll with the ASU women just outside the Top 30. ASU senior Shelby Houlihan is a national championship contender.

• Grand Canyon men's soccer was less than three minutes from a second straight win Sunday only for UC-Davis to score and finished in a 1-1 double overtime tie. The Antelopes (2-3-1) have gone into overtime in four of their six matches.

Reach Metcalfe at 602-444-8053 or jeff.metcalfe@arizonarepublic.com . Follow him at twitter.com/jeffmetcalfe.

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