(Photo: Katherine Gore/WCSN)
TEMPE — Near the end of the third set in Arizona State volleyball’s matchup against rival Arizona the Sun Devils found themselves on a 3-0 run. The first kill of the run was a simple tap into no man’s land from junior outside hitter Bailey Miller to make it 22-20 Arizona. The next two points featured another tap-in, this time from senior outside hitter Geli Cyr who would then end a long rally for the following point with a powerful kill to tie the set 22-22 and send the crowd into a frenzy.
With a chance to retake the lead in the third set the following point was crucial. Sophomore outside hitter Jillian Neal was the Sun Devil who served the ball on the crucial point. Her serve deflected off of a Wildcat sending the ball up and just over the net right to Cyr who simply went up with two hands, sending the ball back to Arizona’s sophomore middle blocker Journey Tucker who couldn’t handle it, resulting in another kill for Cyr.
Cyr and her Sun Devil teammates acted as if it was any other kill, but for the Sun Devils it represented them getting fully back into the set and for Cyr personally it was a record-breaking moment. The kill was Cyr’s 19th on the night, breaking her previous single-game high in kills of 18 which she accomplished earlier this year on September 25, against TCU.
Cyr ended the match with 23 kills in total in front of a raucous crowd at home Wednesday night to help power No. 13 Arizona State (15-2, 3-1 Big 12) over arch-rival Arizona (12-4, 1-4 Big 12) in four sets. Cyr’s kills were the most impressive factor in the victory, but she made sure to highlight her teammates, not taking all the credit for her impressive performance.
“I think one thing that we did really well tonight was keep our tempo and that is so hard to defend on the other side,” Cyr said. “(Graduate setter Argentina Ung) did a great job of pushing that tempo and then our passing was just there. At that point who do you block? So that was really helpful for the 23 kills.”
Cyr managed six kills and five kills respectively before going completely off in that third set that ended up finishing at the high score of 31-29. Cyr’s three kills in the aforementioned sequence to get within one, tie and then take the lead was far from her only impact in that set. She had five kills before those three, and down the stretch as ASU and Arizona traded the lead back and forth she collected two more, including the set-winning kill, a powerful ball placed perfectly in a weak spot of the Wildcats’ defense just out of reach of the nearest player. The final kill of the third set secured a crucial 2-1 lead entering the fourth with momentum fully on ASU’s side.
Cyr added two more kills to the stat sheet in the fourth and final set to reach the 23-kill number, which she reached on a .302 hit percentage and a .434 kill percentage. It was truly a career performance, but Cyr herself didn’t realize quite how well that match had gone for her.
“I honestly thought I was kind of doing bad… They told me out there and I was like ‘What?’” Cyr said. “I honestly felt I was a lot more proud of how I served because my serve has been off this year a little bit. To go back there and knock them out of system a couple of times, I was really proud of that for myself.”
Despite a career day in terms of kills, Cyr did have plenty of reason to be proud of her serving as well. She served 21 times and didn’t commit a single serving error. She also didn’t mind doing the dirty work defensively, as her 17 digs were third on the team behind graduate libero Mary Shroll and graduate setter Argentina Ung.
From Cyr’s kills to her serving to her digs, she is one of head coach JJ Van Niel’s most important players on a top-15 team in the nation and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the man in charge.
“Geli’s playing phenomenal right now,” Van Niel said. “You know she carries a really, really heavy load. I mean she had 17 digs, it’s insane… She’s an undersized kid, she’s not some of those big bombers that have six kills a set or whatever but she does it by being really, really crafty. She’s done a phenomenal job since I’ve gotten here. She’s really worked hard at her craft and finding ways to score.”
