ASU prepares for BYU in tournament opener

(Photo: Noah Findling/WCSN)

The Arizona State Sun Devils earned their second consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament and will face the No. 22 Brigham Young Cougars on Friday in Honolulu, HI.

BYU finished second in the West Coast Conference after falling to No. 8 San Diego in five sets on November 23rd. They come to the tournament having won seven of their last 10 matches this season.

The Cougars are led by sophomore outside hitter Alexa Gray, who leads the team with 3.83 kills per set. Gray and senior middle blocker Kathryn LeCheminant were named to the 2013 All-WCC first team.

“Gray is this phenomenal player that [ASU sophomore middle blocker] Whitney Follette played with this summer with the Canadian Provincial team, so she is something else,” ASU head coach Jason Watson said. “She’s fun to watch. We’ve got to be dialed in on that.”

Another big factor for the Cougars is freshman middle blocker Whitney Young. Young averaged 1.54 blocks per set which led the WCC, and she took home the WCC Freshman of the Year honors.

Last season, Arizona State was dropped in the first round of the tournament after losing in five sets to Oklahoma. The match ironically took place in Provo, Utah, home of the Cougars.

The postseason nod has to be a relief after a season that has been anything but smooth for Watson and the Sun Devils.

After being picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12 according to a coach’s preseason poll, a 12-1 start had the Sun Devils as high as No. 15 in the national rankings.

However, ASU endured a seven match losing streak in the month of October and dropped completely out of the national picture, forcing freshman outside hitter BreElle Bailey to be moved from the right side to the left in the hopes of getting her more swings.

Watson’s decision had a positive impact as ASU managed to recover in time and finished their final ten matches 6-4 including victories over tournament teams Oregon and Utah. Bailey averaged 14 kills a game over that stretch, including a career-high 24 kills against Utah.

Also improved down the stretch was the play of sophomore outside hitter Macey Gardner, who was named to the All-Pac-12 Team earlier this week.

“For the girls, I think we’re just going out there, and we don’t care who we’re playing against. We’re just happy to be in the tournament,” Gardner said. “We’re ready to work, but the fact that it’s BYU just makes it special.”

What makes the match-up with BYU special are the ties that Coach Watson has with the program. Watson played at BYU from 1990 to 1994, where he was a four-time starter and two-time captain.During his collegiate career as a Cougar, Watson was named a second-team AVCA All-American and led his team to a 21-6 record and a No. 2 national ranking. He still remains the school’s all-time leader in assists with 4,649.

Watson was also an assistant with the men’s program from 1995 to 1996 and was named the head coach of the women’s team in 2005.

During his three-year stint at the helm, Watson garnered a 74-18 record and was named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, leading the Cougars to their first regular season conference title in six seasons and reaching the NCAA tournament all three years he was there.

Watson admitted that playing his alma mater carries little weight to the significance of the match.

“There’s nobody on that roster that I’ve recruited. I know the coaching staff. It’s a small world, and they’re incredibly talented and done a great job with that program since I’ve left.” Watson said. “I played there. That’s like forever ago.”

The Pac-12 led all conferences with nine teams making the tournament. Only UCLA, Oregon State, and Washington State failed to make the postseason.

The match will be played on December 5th in Stan Sheriff Center at 8 p.m. (MT).

You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com

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