ASU Volleyball: Utah preview

(Photo: Zac Pacleb/WCSN)

With a debilitating five-set loss to Colorado in the rearview, the No. 21 Arizona State Sun Devils take on the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City.

The Sun Devils swept the Utes in the match earlier in the year in Tempe, but this is a different Utah team.

The Utes have now switched offensive formations going from a 5-1 to a 6-2 and have seen good success, which makes for a much different makeup and lineup for the Sun Devils to deal with.

The most dangerous hitter for the Utes is sophomore outside hitter Adora Anae. On the year, Anae averages over four kills per set, which paces the team by a large margin.

With Utah switching to the 6-2 it allows for both of the setters to see significant playing team, and Utah has two setters averaging over five per set in redshirt freshman Jessie Jorgensen and senior Kendall Cygan.

ASU should be able to find it’s flow offensively. Utah is tenth in the Pac-12 in blocks per set and also ninth in the conference in opponent hitting percentage.

With that being said, the Sun Devils struggled mightily offensively in their match Thursday against the Colorado Buffaloes. The team hit under .200 for the match and for a long time, that number was under .100.

Look for senior Whitney Follette to rebound after a shaky game against the Buffaloes. Given the Utes lack of blocking, she should be able to easily find some holes in this match.

Also for the Sun Devils, junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell needs to keep up her good stretch of hitting and efficiency for the them to be successful.

What kept the Sun Devils afloat in the match against Colorado was their defensive ability at the net. The team registered a whopping 19.5 total blocks, which catapulted them into second in the Pac-12 in blocks per set.

Defensively the Sun Devils should look to have just as much defensive dominance in this one as they have in the past two matches.

The match is set for 7 p.m tonight and is available on the Pac-12 digital stream.

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