TEMPE – In the past week, violent storms took over across Arizona, making travel for teams in and out of the state a bit turbulent.
A word that isn’t unfamiliar in Arizona State volleyball vocabulary, with losses to unranked UC Davis and West Virginia highlighting a portion of the hiccups it faced throughout the season.
The common theme between all four of its defeats: getting beat at the net.
On Sunday afternoon, things were different. Against the University of Houston, the Sun Devils heard plenty of their “Monster Block” theme song in a dominant performance to sweep the Cougars 3-0.
With three points left in the third set for ASU to bring out the brooms, third-year middle blocker Zoey Burgess watched the ball fly overhead on the serve from first-year outside hitter Grace Martin.
As the ball was passed around on the other end, she closely followed, and as the opposing set went up, Burgess set her feet, swayed to one side and used all her momentum to jump as high as possible.
With her hands in the perfect position of the threading, Houston second-year outside hitter Tara Greenberry fired in a swing and met the force of Burgess’ skill, getting blocked at the top.
Shortly before, Burgess was subbed out of the game. Instead of expressing displeasure with the decision, she met her replacement, second-year outside hitter Ella Lewis, at the near sideline, smiling and laughing.
After a couple of jokes during the timeout, she yelled “No,” jokingly, and ran back to the bench with absolute delight, high-fiving all of her teammates.
Burgess finished with six blocks, and her ability to keep things light on the floor cannot be overstated.
“Zoey and Piper (Rama) are, and Paige (Lehman) also, just fun-loving kids that are always excited on the bench,” head coach JJ Van Niel said. “They’re always excited on the court, and really good to have in our program.”
TheSun Devils’ results speak for themselves.
The team mentality that runs through the locker room has proven to show up on the court, as along with Burgess, five other ASU players recorded a block.
Fourth-year setter Isabella Costantini was one of the members in that club, posting four blocks and serving as a testament to the depth ASU possesses.
“She’s obviously not the tallest out there, but she works her butt off,” third-year libero Faith Frame said. “It’s crazy, those blocks that she can get at her height. She’s physical, works really hard and she’s just been doing a really good job of leading our team and carrying our hitters.”
With only a handful of losses on the season, being on the other side of victory isn’t necessarily something the Sun Devils are used to, but the next-up mentality they’ve built has allowed for pristine focus despite the situation.
“I’m really proud of this team,” Frame said. “It can be tough after a loss like that to come back, but I think we’ve worked even harder, and it put a fire under us instead of making us not want to work as hard.”
“After the loss we came Tuesday to the gym, and everybody was practicing way better,” Vajagić said. “Everybody knows that we are capable of more, and that we want to prove that.”
In the Big 12, Arizona State is fourth in blocks behind Colorado, BYU and Utah with 219.5 total and averages 2.68 per set, with two players headlining the pack in the 80s.
“We’re a pretty defensive team, and we talk a lot about smothering our opponents defensively,” Van Niel said. “We just continue to emphasize that and try to make that a key aspect of our program.”
Burgess leads the team with 88 blocks, and fourth-year middle blocker Ella Lomigora is a close second with 85.
In terms of averages per set in the conference, Lomigora has the upper hand at 1.23, and Burgess is at 1.16, creating quite the duo in the middle.
Yet, just as in any sport, you can’t always rely on one factor to carry a team, no matter how strong it may be. When balls get through the arms up front, ASU has a second layer of weapons ready.
Digs are what Frame does best, leading the team with 254.
On days like Sunday, Frame can take a bit more of a step back.
“It makes my job way easier. I love our block,” Frame said. “Our block does such a good job. They also did a good job of showing me and letting me know when they were making changes, so I was ready to work behind that.”
Still, the ground game for the Sun Devils has truly taken an extra step and, again, much like the presence up front, multiple players have leaped into it.
ASU ranks second in the conference in digs, boasting 969 and averaging 11.82 per set.
Against Houston, eight different players recorded a dig, with three in the double digits.
Frame and fourth-year opposite Noemie Glover each had 10, and second-year outside hitter Maéva Schalk got the ball up 12 times.
“Noemie maybe was a little off offensively, but had 10 digs and she was digging some heat,” Van Niel said. “It was great to see.”
Versus Utah, Schalk set a season and career high, digging up 13, and also managed five against BYU.
ASU has been impressive in this category, and while the amount of pressure put on this position may be a beneficiary of what goes on up front, it’s up there with the best.
No. 1 Nebraska averages 12.89 digs per set, only 1.07 more than the Sun Devils.
The two teams that follow on that list are Pittsburgh (13.08) and Kentucky (13.25).
ASU may find itself up against such competition if its aspirations to go as far as it dreams lead to its desired destination. There’s certainly a disparity, but the Sun Devils may have what it takes to compete at this level. It’s just about continuously putting the right pieces together and taking it a day at a time.
“Something we can control is how hard we’re going to work,” Frame said, “so having a team full of people that are going to go for any ball and can dig anything is really nice.”
