(Photo: Zac Pacleb/WCSN)
Coming into the 2015 season, it was that evident that No. 15 Arizona State was going to be stacked with talent. With so much skill on one team, head coach Jason Watson has had to make some adjustments.
Last weekend the Sun Devils implemented the 6-2 system to their offense instead to a 5-1, which they ran for the both the 2013 and 2014 seasons under senior setter Bianca Arellano. A 6-2 is a system creates a double-switch type of scenario as a setter rotates for a opposite hitter in the back row while another opposite will come on the court for the setter who is rotating to the front row.
The 6-2 that ASU ran during the Falcon Classic consisted of the setter/opposite pairings of Arellano substituting with junior Kizzy Ricedorff and freshman setter Kylie Pickrell doing the same with junior BreElle Bailey . The Sun Devils left the first weekend undefeated, only losing two sets out of the 11 played.
“We are just going to continue to evaluate which of those two systems permits us to be the best we can be offensively and defensively,” Watson said. “There are a lot of pros to it right now, whether we stay with it, who knows.”
Pickrell was one of those standouts in the tournament. Setting at the collegiate level for the first time in her career, nerves were nowhere to be found. She put up a total of 57 assists and 16 digs earning her a spot on the Falcon Classic All-Tournament team.
“Going into it, I knew how much I was going to play,” Pickrell said. “It was just different for me because you have to make that transition with energy that you have on the bench, to a different kind of energy that is on the floor.”
Having to switch out every three rotations with a freshman is something that the veteran, Arellano, might have to get used to after playing nearly every point in 2014. However, both of this year’s setters will likely only play back row, as the 6-2 rotates Ricedorff and Bailey at the net to block and hit.
“The decision to go with it is not because we don’t think our setters can block,” Watson said. “We think they can block. The question is can they block better than someone who is 6-foot-4, and the answer right now is probably no.”
So far, the 6-2 has been successful not only for the setters, but for the right-sides as well. In three games played, Ricedorff had 18 kills with only one error and 10 blocks to put her on the Falcon Classic All-Tournament team alongside Pickrell. With two years of previous experience, Bailey and Arellano clicked as Bailey notched 23 kills on 59 attempts and tacked on 15 blocks to conclude the first week of the season.
“I am absolutely comfortable subbing in with Bree because she is a dominant blocker and we have established a very fluid setter-hitter relationship,” Arellano said.
Whether Watson decides to run the 5-1 or the 6-2, the Sun Devil offense will be put to the test September 4 and 5 when they travel back to Colorado to play No. 9 Colorado State, Western Michigan and Northern Colorado.
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