Give No. 10 Arizona State a lot of credit, but when it finally ended No. 1 USC was still unbeaten and coach Mick Haley had recorded his 900th career victory as a Division I coach. Only Penn State’s Russ Rose and Hawai’i’s Dave Shoji have more. On one hand you had to wonder why the Trojans couldn’t close out the third and sweep, but with so many young players, they’re going to have their moments. Here’s what Haley had to say after: On the ASU side, the Sun Devils are without Macey Gardner, who might have been the national player of the year had she not blown out her knee, and Kizzy Ricedorff. Gardner, a senior outside, led ASU in kills with 205, was second on the team in digs before Friday with 149, and was just simply clutch. And Ricedorff, a junior middle dealing with a handful of issues, had 76 kills and 31 blocks. The scores — 25-15, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23 — let you know the Sun Devils haven’t given up, but it’s going to be tough the rest of the way. We’ll be back at USC on Sunday, when the Women of Troy take on Arizona and can’t wait to watch Samantha Bricio again. In a word, wow. Friday night she was 24 of 56 with only six errors, hit . 321, and had four aces and 11 digs. Here are the stories from the respective schools. Click here for USC, click here for ASU. For those following my SoCal vball weekend odyssey, I’m off to Pepperdine today where the Waves take on San Francisco. After interviewing U.S. women’s Olympic coach Karch Kiraly and USC men’s coach Jeff Nygaard yesterday, today I’m hoping to get with Pepperdine legend Marv Dunphy and, of course, will have something from today’s match. Finally, a couple of NCAA women’s notes. No. 20 Kentucky had to go five to beat Auburn, another reminder that conference play is tough no matter what conference, and now the Wildcats are 6-0 and atop the Southeastern Conference standings as the only unbeaten team in league play. But No. 17 Florida comes to town Sunday. The Gators may have three SEC losses for the first time under Mary Wise, but don’t think they’re out of it … No. 12 UCLA made short work of visiting no. 14 Arizona, which is at USC on Sunday morning … The only other unbeaten, No. 9 Kansas, has the weekend off, a rare luxury at the time of season when so many teams are starting to show wear and tear.
