(Photo: Christian Coates/WCSN)
The No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils took care of business on both ends of their doubleheader in the first day of the Residence Inn Challenge in Tempe, Ariz,, sweeping the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers (25-9, 25-16, 25-15) and defeating the Idaho State Bengals in four sets (23-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-18).
In the 2 p.m. match against the Blazers, ASU came out strong from the service line and tallied up two aces in the first set as UAB struggled to receive serve. ASU finished with five aces for the match. Redshirt freshman defensive specialist Genevieve Pirotte led the Sun Devils with three aces.
“We look at service, clearly, as this point-scoring opportunity for us, and we have to,” ASU head coach Jason Watson said. “We’re not this outstanding blocking team, and I don’t yet feel like we’ve established our digging, defensive identity that we’ve had.”
UAB’s junior outside hitter Sydney Nelson led the Blazers with six kills, and senior middle blocker Leslie Ekpe led the efforts at the net with three total blocks.
As a team, however, UAB struggled with efficiency, committing eighteen total attacking errors, ten service errors, and hit just .098 for the match. ASU has now held three of their five opponents below the .100 hitting percentage mark.
With the match going strongly in ASU’s favor throughout the day, head coach Jason Watson was able to mix in redshirt freshman opposite Kwyn Johnson and junior outside hitter Andi Lowrance.
Lowrance was able to rack up seven kills, a career-high, all in the third set without committing an error. Last season, Lowrance was listed as a middle blocker, but due to the lack of depth on the outside hitter position, she made the transition this summer.
“It’s difficult because it’s kind of a different way of playing the game, and I actually have to pass and things like that,” Lowrance said. “I’ve a lot of help from the other outsides, like (Willey) and Macey have been helping me out a lot, and telling me how I’m supposed to be doing things.”
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In the second match of the day, ISU took advantage of a sluggish ASU start.
ISU’s redshirt junior outside hitter Tress Lyman led the Bengals with five kills on five attempts in the first set. She would finish the match with 11 kills.
Evened up at 23 apiece after a Gardner kill, two straight errors by sophomore outside hitter Kizzy Willey gave ISU the first set victory.
“We were pretty average to begin, clearly,” Watson said. “And then I thought we got to be really, really clean and really, really efficient as the match went on.”
ASU bounced back in the second set behind a solid effort from junior middle blocker Mercedes Binns, who put down four kills on five attempts in the set. She would finish her night with 9 kills.
“I thought that Idaho State – in game one – forced us to play the game a lot longer than we really wanted to. I don’t think we were really wanting to play at the level that they forced us to, and clearly that was – in game one – that was evident,” Watson said. “So it was nice for this crew to kind of respond in game two and even game three.”
The third set remained competitive but was controlled by ASU. Freshman libero Halle Harker picked up six digs in the set, and the Sun Devils hit an efficient .500 in the set as well.
Harker would finish the match with 8 digs.
In the fourth set, the Sun Devils and Bengals traded points throughout the set before ASU rolled off six straight points to pull away and close out the match. Gardner almost single-handedly won the final set as she racked up nine of her 18 kills in the frame.
On the match, Junior setter Bianca Arellano dished out 46 assists as well as five service aces.
“I thought this was one of the better offensive nights that Bianca has had. I thought Bianca was really, really good in almost every phase of the game tonight,” Watson said. “Her serve, her offensive distribution, she even dug some balls, and so she was really good.”
Throughout both matches, the improved connection between junior setter Bianca Arellano and Binns and junior middle blocker Whitney Follette was evident. Between the two of them, the middles put down a total of 30 kills on the day.
“We’re working all the time on transition. We do drills that are specifically based on transition just so that we have a better setter-hitter relationship,” Binns said. “It’s going great, and we’re only going up from here.”
“This team is continuing to impress me immensely,” Watson said.
ASU will have the day off on Saturday before taking on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. in Wells Fargo Arena. The game will be broadcasted live on the Pac-12 Networks.
You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com
