TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State volleyball team fell in four sets to No. 5 UCLA on Saturday night. Despite the loss -- which came in set scores of 21-25, 14-25, 26-24, 16-25 -- ASU's Macey Gardner tied the freshman season kill record of 475 with her 15-kill outing.
Along with tying the freshman season kill record, Gardner posted her 10th double-double of the season, adding 12 digs to her kill total. Erica Wilson had 12 kills and Allison Palmer put up 40 assists for the Sun Devils (16-11, 5-9 Pac-12).
After trading the lead early, ASU gained control, 10-7, after a trio of kills from freshmen Macey Gardner and Whitney Follette. Sun Devil blocking enabled the team to keep within reach of UCLA (18-5, 10-4 Pac-12) at 16-18 and then 19-20, but a service ace by the Bruins at 20-23 gave UCLA a boost to take the first set 21-25.
With the Bruins leading 6-12 in the second set, the Sun Devils tried to break UCLA’s momentum with a timeout but UCLA used a nine-point streak to stretch its advantage to 6-18 before ASU stopped the scoring spree. Unable to put together a comeback, Arizona State fell 14-25 to head into the intermission down 2-0.
The third set featured the teams tying through the first six points before Alexis Pinson went off for three kills to bump ASU to a 10-8 lead. UCLA called a timeout when the Sun Devils went up 15-11 and the Bruins came out of the break to knot it up at 17-all. Following six ties, ASU battled with a block from Allison Palmer and Follette followed by a kill from Erica Wilson to close out the frame 26-24 on a .257 hitting clip.
A 9-3 Bruins run in the fourth gave UCLA a 13-18 jump on the set. Five kills by Gardner in the set allowed the outside hitter to tie the freshman season kill record of 475, set in 1992 by Christine Garner. The mark also ties her for ninth in the single-season ASU records. UCLA made quick work of the remainder of the set, finishing the match in four, 16-25.
