LEXINGTON, Ky.— No. 5 Arizona State volleyball’s senior outside hitter Macey Gardner was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced on Tuesday.
Gardner, a 2014 AVCA All-American, is the first Sun Devil to earn national honors from the AVCA since Amanda Burbridge was recognized on Oct. 23, 2000. The third ASU athlete to earn AVCA accolades was Christine Garner on Oct. 16, 1995. Burbridge and Garner also earned AVCA All-America honors during their Sun Devil careers.
Last week, Gardner led the then-No. 6 Sun Devils (15-0, 4-0 Pac-12) to their first win over then-No. 8 Stanford in 15 years, recording 22 kills, including seven each in the first and third sets of the four-set victory.
In the three-set sweep of the Bears on Sunday, Gardner put up 14 kills for a career total of 1,873 and counting, and surpassing Garner’s previous record of 1,871, set from 1992-95. Nine of the 14 kills in the match came in the third set, helping the Sun Devils to a .312 attack percentage for the frame.
This was the first time ASU defeated the Bay Area schools in the same weekend since the 1993 season, and the 4-0 league record marks the best start since the Sun Devils joined the Pac-10 in 1986.
Up next, Gardner and the No. 5 Sun Devils embark on their first conference road trip of the season, traveling to Seattle on Friday to take on No. 6 Washington at 7 p.m. PT, before making the trip to Pullman to take on Washington State on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT. The match against the Cougars will air on the Pac-12 Networks.
