(Photo: Zac Pacleb/WCSN)
In what could prove to be one of the most important games of the season, the No. 20 Arizona State Sun Devils beat the Washington State Cougars in four sets by scores of 26-24, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23.
“It (the win) keeps us in it,” ASU head coach Jason Watson said. “It keeps us alive. I think it gives us some confidence moving forward.”
The Cougars offense established a rhythm early in the first set by getting three kills on three attempts, pulling in front with an 8-5 lead.
There was a long rally with the score tightly contested at 11-10 that the Sun Devils eventually lost the point on, which effectively gave the Cougars some momentum going forward.
“Those long rallies are important to win,” Watson said. “The one’s that we did lose – those rallies – we scored the next point, and that’s the other way to do it.”
Both teams were blocking well in the set when the Cougars put a stuff-block on freshman Lexi MacLean pushing their lead to 19-15. That block gave the Cougars four alone in the first set, and the Sun Devils had three blocks themselves.
The Sun Devils eventually tied it up on a controversial call, in which the ball was called in by the line-judge, but overruled by the head referee and the score was tied at 22 all.
Eventually, the Sun Devils momentum lead them to a set victory by a score of 26-24. Leading the way for the Sun Devils offensively was junior opposite BreElle Bailey and junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell. Both hitters tallied five kills in the set.
ASU also shined defensively with five blocks in the first set, all of them were solo blocks. The Cougars were held to a .132 hitting percentage as well.
The Sun Devils carried their momentum into the second set, especially MacLean who quickly had two kills in the set, including an overpass kill. ASU took a 6-4 lead on that kill.
Senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns got her second solo block of the match on a back row attack from the Cougars, then subsequently followed it up with a nice kill in the back corner to extend the Sun Devils lead to 15-11.
The Cougars went on a three-point run forcing ASU to call its first timeout of the set with the Sun Devils leading 19-16.
The Sun Devils were able to hold off the Cougars push, by forcing the Cougars into two hitting errors for two of the Sun Devils last three points.
Through the first two sets the Sun Devils offense was playing very efficiently with a hitting percentage of .278. Leading the way offensively for ASU in the second set was MacLean who had four kills in the set and ended with a hitting percentage of .286 for the match.
MacLean continued to pour it on in the third set as she quickly had three more kills as ASU took an early lead of 10-5.
A huge block put up by freshman middle blocker Jasmine Koonts and senior middle blocker Whitney Follette put the Sun Devils up 15-10, Washington St. then called their first timeout of the set.
The Cougars rattled off six straight points behind the serving of junior outside hitter Kyra Holt to tie up ASU at 17 all.
The Cougars kept that momentum and scored seven of the next 10 points, but ASU continued to exert energy and forced Holt into two straight errors to close the Cougars lead to 24-22.
The Cougars eventually were able to win the set by a score of 25-23 on a kill by freshman middle blocker Ella Lajos. Lajos came in to the set cold off the bench and totaled four kills on six attempts with no errors.
Two service errors for the Sun Devils at inopportune times in the third set put them behind by a score of 9-6.
ASU eventually took over the lead behind Binns who had two straight kills to push ASU into a 15-14 lead. Those kills gave Binns 11 kills at the time, but she would eventually finish with 12 kills.
“Today, we had a really good day,” Binns said. “We do everything the same in practice and in games. Now we just had a lot more opening up in the middle.”
The Sun Devils continued their offensive intensity and eventually won the set by a score of 25-23, and the final point was a kill by MacLean who finished the day with a career-high 13 kills.
The Sun Devils defense was their usual selves holding the Cougars to a hitting percentage of .191 and especially limited Holt to 19 kills on 62 attempts with 11 errors, good for a hitting percentage of .129.
“This past month we have worked incredibly hard,” Binns said. “We have come short a couple times, but I think tonight we proved we are about business. We are still in it.”
