ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils win thriller 5-set match over Utah behind Gardner’s stellar performance

(Photo: Trey Lanthier/WCSN)

The No. 19 Arizona State volleyball team returned home and survived the unranked Utah Utes’ comeback with a victory in five sets (25-19, 25-21,16-25, 23-25, 15-13) at Wells Fargo Arena on Halloween night.

Both teams were deadlocked throughout the fifth set, with no team truly gaining a considerable advantage. With such a swing in score and momentum from the first two sets to the next two sets, nobody seemed to know what was going to happen next. It was a back-and-forth set, but the turning point came when the Sun Devils were up 13-12. An amazing diving full-court dig by junior outside hitter Macey Gardner kept the rally alive and eventually resulted in ASU winning the point. This boosted the Sun Devils to a 15-13 set victory and a tally in the win column for the season.

Gardner, who finished with 20 kills and 22 digs, led the way for ASU.

ASU looked like they were going to cruise to an easy victory in this one with wins in both the first two sets, but the Utes showed fight and heart, competing to the bitter end. The Sun Devils’ win avenges a loss from earlier in the year in which the Utes pulled out the victory in four sets. ASU improves to 16-7 overall and 6-5 in the Pac-12.

The plan for ASU seemed to be controlling freshman outside hitter Adora Anae, as she burned the Sun Devils last time these two teams met earlier in the year with 17 kills and an unreal .424 hitting percentage. While she had six blocks, she didn’t get entirely into a great flow on offense until towards the end of the match, with only 13 kills and a lackluster .108 hitting percentage in the match. Controlling Anae throughout the entirety of the match was the recipe for a ASU victory.

It looked as if the momentum was clearly in the Utes favor after their dominating third set victory, but ASU quickly put that to rest as they came out in the fourth set on fire. Junior outside hitter Macey Gardner started the set playing out of her mind, tallying digs in addition to tons of thunderous kills on their way to an early lead. Utah was far from done however, in a set that saw five tie scores, and eventually the Utes took the lead and won 25-23 to force a deciding fifth set.

The third set of the match did not start like ASU imagined it, with the Sun Devils in a early hole 14-5. The offense for Utah started clicking for the first time in the game, as senior outside hitter Chelsey Schofield was a one-woman show, accounting for three kills in the set. ASU tried to hang in there but they could not get any clutch digs as the Utes took the set 25-16.

The first set started all Sun Devils, as they jumped out to an impressive 17-10 lead on the back of junior middle blocker Mercedes Binns who was contributing on both offense and defense with a kill total of three and a block total of two. She finished with 13 kills and three blocks on the night. ASU and its digs were the difference-maker in this lopsided set, posting 25 of them and holding the Utes to a measly .065 hitting percentage on their way to a 25-19 first set victory.

After being dominated on the block in the first match by the Utes 8-14, ASU seemed to correct their mistakes by keeping the blocking totals pretty even in each one of the early sets, limiting Utah from getting barely anything over the net. Thanks in large part to Binns and sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey, the Sun Devils started off great. Towards the end of the match however, the Utes’ length starting becoming a factor, giving the Sun Devils fits for the second game in a row. Utah ended with 12 blocks while ASU accounted seven.

The roles were reversed in the second set as the Sun Devils were forced to play catch-up in the beginning part of the set, but the strong play of Gardner and her five kills brought them back to only a 13-15 deficit. She led the team with 10 kills at the end of the second set and 20 kills at the end of the match. Schofield did all she could for the Utes, leading her team with nine kills of her own but it was not enough as ASU completed the comeback and took the set 25-21.

With the victory, the Sun Devils will have a chance at their first weekend sweep of the conference season as they take on the Colorado Buffaloes on Sunday at noon in Wells Fargo Arena.

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