(Photo: Trey Lanthier/WCSN)
Fresh off an impressive upset, No. 18 Arizona State looks to complete the Oregon sweep when they go up against the unranked Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis, Ore. on Saturday. A win would allow the Sun Devils to close out the first half of the conference slate with a 16-6 record and 6-4 in Pac-12 play.
ASU proved that defensively, they are one of the best teams in the Pac-12 when they neared the school record for blocks in a game with 21 in the dramatic five-set marathon victory against No. 11 Oregon on Friday night. The record stands at 21.5, set in 2009 versus Cincinnati. Junior middle blocker Mercedes Binns and sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey led the block-fest with nine each and junior outside hitter Macey Gardner was not too far behind with eight. Gardner was a dominant force on both offense and defense as she tallied a double-double with 24 kills and 17 additional digs. The upset win marked the third win over a top-25 team this season alone.
While ASU is riding high after their last match, the Beavers are coming off what head coach Taras Liskevych called their “worst-played match of the year” (source) after they fell in four sets to No. 15 Arizona. OSU battled in the first two sets, splitting them, but eventually ran out of gas as they put up lackluster point totals in the final sets to clinch the loss, 15 and 14 respectively. There was no shortage of individual standouts coming from the Beaver squad however, as the freshman outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall and red-shirt senior setter Tayla Woods each emerged with double-doubles. Marshall finished with 13 kills and 14 digs while Woods tallied 30 assists and 15 digs.
OSU will try to salvage their weekend with an upset against the Sun Devils on Saturday night.
Marquee Matchups
-Mercedes Binns vs Oregon State senior middle blocker Arica Nassar
Blocking has been the story of the last two victories for the Sun Devils, with 17 going against Washington State last week and 21 more coming versus Oregon. Binns has been an integral part of that success, with a team-high 74 blocks and an impressive .90 block per set average. If the Beavers can not slow down the blocking tear from Binns, they will have to try to match the performance and that job lands on the shoulders of Nassar. With 96 total blocks on the year and an unbelievable 1.33 block per set average, she seems up for the challenge. It will be interesting to see which player will step up and get the advantage for block totals in this match-up as the winner could sway the outcome of the game as a whole.
-Junior setter Bianca Arellano vs Oregon State setter Tayla Woods
Both setters are double-double machines as each star player is so versatile they can play both offense and defense extremely well. Arellano is the leader of this ASU squad, as she is the glue that holds the team together, and she lets her actions on the court show that with 855 assists on the year on top of her 222 digs on the defensive side. In the match against Oregon, Arellano accounted 43 assists to go along with 23 digs. Woods will have her hands full , but she is not that far behind, holding her own with 702 assists and 190 digs on the season. Woods also has a team-high 10 double-doubles. Watch for these two experienced seniors battling it out and trying to bring their team the victory.
-Macey Gardner vs the Beavers’ defense
Gardner is on a tear as of late, leading her team to impressive upsets while also chasing history. In addition to 337 kills on the season and a 4.11 kill per set average, Gardner is sixth on the ASU top-10 career kills list with 1,420 in her successful career. The Beaver defense will have to slow this star down if they want any chance of being competitive in this match, and it will have to start with improving their 15.1 digs per set average and getting key blocks at critical times. If they can get Gardner off her rhythm, then the entire Sun Devil offense will be stunted which can give OSU a shot at the upset.
Prediction
The Sun Devils have gotten on a roll lately, while the Beavers have been declining with three straight losses in Pac-12 play and that will not change as the blocking front on ASU will be too much to handle. OSU will struggle to get balls over the net with Binns and Bailey looming and Gardner will finish will powerful kill after powerful kill. The Beavers will steal a set in the early-going but ASU will respond with another impressive performance and be the victor in four sets.
