(Photo via Marina Williams/WCSN)
Throughout this 2023 season, No. 21 Arizona State volleyball (20-3, 8-3 Pac-12) has defied all kinds of expectations, and in battling through its final Pac-12 Conference schedule in program history, ASU has shown significant resilience against some of the nation’s best programs.
That resilience showed again Friday night, as the Sun Devils returned home from their rollercoaster road trip at the Oregon and Rocky Mountain schools and bounced back with a sweep against Cal (14-8, 3-8 in Pac-12), 25-20, 25-19, 25-13. With the win, ASU crossed 20 wins in a regular season for just the 7th time in program history.
For first-year head coach JJ Van Niel, he reiterated that while the accomplishment was an inevitable goal for his squad, it was not what he anticipated in year one.
“I didn’t necessarily expect this, but I did expect to get to over 20,” Van Niel said. “That was what we set as our goal, so it’s really rewarding.”
Many of the problems offensively from last Sunday’s loss at Colorado had some effect on the match’s outcome early on. While the Sun Devils maintained a lead for most of the contest, they struggled to hit the ball consistently well in the first two sets, leading to ASU’s hitting percentage falling to .050 at one point. The Sun Devils would finish the night hitting at a clip of .231.
Nevertheless, one of the most noticeable improvements by ASU Friday was how blocking became a more significant part of its game plan. The Sun Devils collected 13 blocks against the Golden Bears, their second-highest total for a single match this season.
“I thought the blocking was phenomenal compared to our last couple of games,” senior middle blocker Claire Jeter said. “I say that played a really big part in our defense being able to kind of play around the block.”
In addition, it was evident throughout how improved the Sun Devils looked defensively. According to graduate setter Shannon Shields, Friday’s performance was much bigger than just getting better defensively, as ASU also looked to put its last loss in the rearview mirror.
“We had to move on. We have to work on what we have to work on, and for us this week, it was defense. I think that’s why we play so well,” Shields said. “Why we’re so successful is because we lean on each other and we shaked off that last loss really easily.”
Shields reached at least 30 assists for the sixth time in the last nine matches and has continued to rank statistically as one of the best at the position in the Pac-12.
The tests only get harder moving forward for ASU, as it will face its second top-5 ranked opponent of the season when No. 3 Stanford (18-2, 11-0 Pac-12) visits Mullett Arena this Sunday. For Van Niel, it was hard to watch his squad get swept in Palo Alto earlier in the year and made that feeling clear.
“They absolutely smashed us out there,” Van Niel said. “That was, quite frankly, a little bit embarrassing. And I think the thing that I was probably most disappointed with was I thought we played a little scared.”
Even though the Sun Devils felt the fear then, Shields said that feeling about any opponent has since departed their locker room and that she and her teammates will be ready to try to defeat a foe that ASU has yet to beat in 26 previous tries.
“We were way too timid up the first round, and we were not hard enough on them,” Shields said. “I feel like this time around, we have no fear. They already think they’re gonna come in and beat us. They have nothing to lose.”
