Gritty and scrappy defense leads to No.15 Sun Devil success

(Photo: Sammy Nute/WCSN)

TEMPE – When opposing teams have faced No. 15 Arizona State volleyball (14-2, 3-1 Big 12), getting points on the board has been challenging. For Big 12 conference foe No. 20 BYU (9-5, 2-2 Big 12) on Friday night, that was especially true.

For the first time all season, the Cougars went down in straight sets. Through three sets against the Sun Devils, the most points the Cougars put up was 20, and BYU scored a mere 17 in each of the first two sets.

When looking at why the Cougars were unable to keep up with ASU, many factors play a role. One of those factors is a recurring theme for opponents – the offense being no match for ASU’s defensive physicality.

Being physical on defense is a key philosophy of head coach JJ Van Niel’s vision for the Sun Devils. This includes putting in the extra effort to keep the ball away from the ground.

“I love how much we scrap,” Van Niel said. “Of the wins that we’ve had, I felt like we’ve out-scrapped and out-defended our opponents.”

This statement is reinforced by just looking at the defensive box scores. Through three sets, BYU collectively averaged just a .124 hitting percentage. For reference, the lowest team hitting percentage in the Big 12 is Kansas State with a .187 hitting percentage.

Additionally, the Cougars had six more attack errors than ASU on three more total attacks. Six is also the difference in total digs between the two teams, as the Sun Devils had 51 compared to BYU’s 45. ASU’s ability to extend the rally and errors made by the Cougars on offense are linked. The longer ASU keeps the ball alive, the more pressure is put on the opposing offense.

“When they keep swinging and get dug and the ball keeps coming back, they start getting frustrated,” Van Niel said. “They press and make uncharacteristic errors potentially.”

Graduate libero Mary Shroll led the team with 17 digs on Friday night. Closely behind Shroll was senior outside hitter Geli Cyr with 13 digs. Aside from Friday night, the total match digs for Shroll and Cyr aren’t usually this close to each other. Nevertheless, Van Niel views Cyr being a starter as having two liberos in the lineup on paper.

“She’s like having another libero out there,” Van Niel said. “She just does everything.”

Van Niel’s philosophy of applying pressure by extending the rally was echoed by Shroll earlier this week. In the 3-1 win against Utah on Wednesday night, ASU had 85 total digs with Shroll accounting for 23 of them. The difference in digs between the two teams stood out as Utah had just 72 in comparison. After the match, Shroll described the importance of getting digs and extending the rally.

“It just puts pressure on the other team,” Shroll said. “Eventually teams will error because you just keep sending it.”

This sentiment isn’t the only one Shroll shares with members of the team. When it comes to effort, a term has been used by Shroll and others to describe the approach – grit.

While the exact meaning of the term is unconfirmed, grit has been commonly used across sports to describe an attitude. The context in which it’s been used by the Sun Devils possibly indicates that grit is another word for persistence.

“We practice exactly how we play,” Shroll said. “Just being gritty out there. Just keep extending the rally.”

The term grit was mentioned after Friday night’s match by graduate middle blocker Savannah Kjolhede. Kjolhede used it to describe the effort she was seeing from redshirt freshman middle blocker Brynn Covell in particular. This specific effort by Covell was described by Kjolhede as a motivator.

Dating back to the Baylor match, there are two especially memorable instances of Covell putting the ball back in play. The first one was against Baylor when she knocked two chairs over in a successful effort to keep the ball alive. The other happened on Friday night when she slid into a counter in another successful effort.

“You see the grit,” Kjolhede said. “You’re just like, ‘if (Covell’s) going for that, I’m putting this ball down.’”