ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils sweep Rebels, off to best start in 30 years

(Photo: Elaine Wilson/WCSN)

No. 10 Arizona State volleyball took on the UNLV Rebels. The Sun Devils didn’t have much trouble putting the Rebels away as they won in straight sets 25-10, 25-21, 25-15.

ASU got out to a blistering start in the match as it quickly found themselves out to a 10-3 lead in set one. UNLV was forced to call a timeout because the fast-paced offense of the Sun Devils had the Rebels on their heels. The timeout was forced by a great block by junior right side Kizzy Ricedorff. The Sun Devils continued to pile on the pressure building up their lead to 18-8. Nearing the end of the match, UNLV called a timeout with the score 23-9 in favor of ASU. The Sun Devils cruised through the first set by a score of 25-10, capping the match off with a kill from senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns.

ASU had no trouble containing the hitting of UNLV. The rebels were held to a hitting percentage of .000 and were blocked three times.

The second set started out a little more tightly contested as the Rebels were able to hang with ASU point for point until it was 5-4 Sun Devils. UNLV was able to hang with the Sun Devils until the score was 12-9. ASU couldn’t seem to find the court at points in the set as UNLV tallied three of their first ten points on ASU hitting errors. The Rebels were forced to call their first timeout of the second set when ASU took a 19-15 lead. The ASU bench was set ablaze when Follette put down an overpass for an electric kill. That spark lasted as the Sun Devils were able to take the second set by a score of 25-21.

ASU’s hitters found a little more trouble hitting in the second set as they saw their hitting percentage drop from .364 to .284 and they tallied five hitting errors in the set.

The third set started off the same way as the second. The Rebels were able to stick around and the score started 10-9 Sun Devils. ASU didn’t let that phase it as it was able to gain some momentum and push out to a 17-10 lead. ASU kept pushing in the set and the lead kept climbing. The Sun Devils finished off the sweep and won the third set on junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell’s 10^th kill of the day.

Freshman middle blocker Jasmine Koontz got the start in the third set and finished with two kills on three attempts. ASU was highlighted by junior outside hitter BreElle Bailey who hit .692 on the day and finished with nine kills.

“The middles helped me out a lot on that one. They were holding the block,” Bailey said. “I usually had just one block up, and I saw that, but credit to the middles.”

ASU record improves to 9-0 on the season and they have a doubleheader tomorrow in the Sun Devil Invitational against Texas Southern at noon and the big match being No. 6 Illinois at 7 p.m. in Wells Fargo Arena.

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