Oct. 20, 2010

TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State University Athletics has selected to honor senior outside hitter, Sarah Reaves as this week's ASU Athlete of the Week. While the ASU Women's Volleyball program put together a complete team effort in one of the most historic weekends in program history, Reaves stood a cut above the rest, helping to fuel the Sun Devils to 3-1 wins over No. 5 USC and No. 15 UCLA for a sweep of the LA schools, a feat the program last achieved in 1995.

Against a talented fifth-ranked Women of Troy opponent, Reaves proved to be pivotal on both the offensive and defensive fronts for the Sun Devils, as she collected 17 kills in the match for a .241 average while pulling in 13 digs and five blocks to stifle USC's attack. The double-double she garnered on the night was her eighth of the season and 48th of her career at ASU.

While her performance against USC was nothing less than stellar, she came back the next night against the tenth-ranked Bruins squad of UCLA which saw her light a fire under ASU again as she collected 23 kills coupled with nine digs and three blocks. The performance was enough to lead her team to back-to-back home wins over the Bruins with ASU taking a 3-0 sweep of UCLA at home last season.  

In the weekend alone, Reaves elevated her attack percentage from a .198 average to .240 while raising her digs per set average from 2.44 to 2.75 and blocks per set from 0.44 to 1.00 in a complete effort which served as a fuse to ignite the Sun Devils to their victories. Reaves also moved into third place in ASU Career Kills records as well by surpassing Arizona State recent Hall of Fame inductee, Amanda Burbridge's 1,597 with her now current 1,625 career kill tally. 

The Sun Devils will hit the road this week in hopes to continue their streak in the Pacific Northwest where they look to face Washington State Friday night and No. 7 Washington Saturday night. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. PT.