(Photo: Madison Sorenson/WCSN)
TEMPE — After a five-set upset for the Utah State Aggies and a dominating three-set win for No. 7 Arizona State on Thursday at Desert Financial Arena, the stage was set for the two in a round of 32 matchup. Still undefeated on their home court, ASU had no plans to change that in tonight’s match.
As the stadium filled, the spirits soured and fans roared with anticipation. The Sun Devils had hopes of getting the win that just one year prior to a different Aggies team, ended their season.
After a quick match against Coppin State, not allowing the Eagles to reach 15 points in any of the three sets, ASU (27-3, 17-1 Big-12) faced a much tougher opponent in Utah State (27-4, 18-0 MW) who put up much more of a fight.
At least that is what it seemed like. A 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 22-25, 25-15) win was all ASU needed to punch their second ticket to the Sweet-16 in the past three seasons.
“Really special moment for our program.” head coach JJ Van Niel said. “I’m really proud of these kids. They came out and just played really really clean volleyball today.
“(Van Niel) knows what he’s doing and we trust in that,” senior outside hitter Bailey Miller said. “We trust that he knows what to do and that he’s gonna tell us exactly what we need to do to win. So it’s nice to have somebody like that that can just be like, ‘hey, you need to do this’ and then this will happen.”
After the Aggies took a 2-0 lead to start the first set, the two-seeded Sun Devils took back the lead and held it for the majority of the first and second set before dropping the third and finishing the match in the fourth.
With the win, the Sun Devils put their season in DFA to bed with a perfect record, going 15-0 at home and only losing eight sets at home all season.
Led by Miller and her 18 kills, ASU was firing on all cylinders, hitting .419 as a team for its best mark of the season. The Sun Devils’ mix of ferocious spikes and feathery touches had the Aggies confused and struggling to keep up.
The Sun Devils also dominated in the service department, logging seven service aces against the Aggies with three from Miller.
Luckily for Miller, she also had her whole team behind her to help end the Aggies season. Helping her out was not only junior opposite Noemi Glover, who finished just behind her with 17 kills, but she also had assistance from senior outside hitter Tatum Parrott, who recorded 13 kills.
It was the ASU’s defense, though, that, like it had most of the season, was the catalyst in its win.
Knowing how good of a team the Sun Devils are at the net, with opponents hitting under .300 percent against them, the Aggies did their best to hit away from the hands that came over the net. This led to a lot of balls being hit out with just a .227 hit percentage for the Aggies.
“When it gets down to it, now it’s do or die,” Glover said. “You gotta come out and you gotta prepare well, get rest and have a great mindset of just clearing it on, moving on to the next point
This low of a percentage was also helped by sophomore libero Faith Frame, whose 13 digs led ASU and helped them tally 54 in the game. They were also their usual “monsters” at the net, racking up 6.5 blocks led by graduate middle blocker Colby Neal.
“We don’t have to win in one swing,” Niel said. “I thought tonight was a good example. They were in rhythm or didn’t have it. We were just trying to put pressure on them.”
The resilience from ASU kept it from being eliminated by an Aggies team for the second straight year, as it gave a show in front of its home crowd for the final time this season. With the win, the Sun Devils hit the road and head to Lexington, Kentucky to face off against the Creighton Bluejays, who beat Northern Iowa 3-2 in their round of 32 matchup.
“It’s super special,” Miller said. “I always love playing on this home court and the community that we’ve built in Tempe is just so special and to be able to play here with these girls means everything to me.”
“It means everything to be playing with these girls.” senior setter Syndey Henry said. “All these girls are my second family, and so I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”
