(Photo: Katherine Gore/WCSN)
In a match one month ago, No. 13 Arizona State Volleyball won the contest but lost the first set to No. 22 Utah due to a slow offensive start. Despite an undefeated record over the past month, offensive struggles in the first set have been consistent. That’s why it wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling when the Utes took an early 13-9 lead in the first set on Saturday.
The Sun Devils got back within two, but any potential momentum seemingly came to a halt when Utah scored after a 50-second rally. However, ASU head coach JJ Van Niel noticed a net touch by Utah middle blocker Allie Olsen and challenged the play. After a quick review, ASU flipped the point and the crowd at Jon M. Huntsman Center was silenced. Much to the dismay of Utah fans, ASU added three more unanswered points to take a 15-13 lead. Of these six unanswered points, just two could be attributed to ASU’s offense.
When these two teams played for the first time in October, ASU frustrated the Utes defensively and applied service pressure across all four sets. What plagued the Sun Devils in the first set of that match was a lack of execution on offense, hitting an abysmal -.23 hitting percentage in that set. On Saturday, ASU collectively hit .250 in the first set to complement the team’s defensive and serving success.
Unlike last month’s match, the cushion ASU’s defense and serving provided was met with sufficient offensive output in the first set. This was the difference between a 3-1 win in October and a sweep on Saturday as the Sun Devils (22-2, 10-1 Big 12) downed the Utes (17-5, 7-4 Big 12) in straight sets 25-19, 25-19, 25-18.
While the scores of the first two sets mirror each other, they were won in different fashion for ASU. While the Sun Devils committed less attack errors in both sets, the Utes had double the attack errors in the first set with eight compared to ASU’s four. After Utah took a four-point lead, ASU’s scrappy style of defense took the Utes out of rhythm offensively. This resulted in Utah committing more errors and hitting .093 in the first set.
In the second set, the difference in hitting percentage was much narrower. ASU’s hitting percentage of .271 in the second set was slightly higher compared to the first set. The Utes, on the other hand, had a substantially higher hitting percentage in the second set with a .250 clip.
The second set ultimately came down to which team could apply more service pressure. Just like the first match between these two teams, Utah didn’t notch a single ace in the second set and was unable to do so throughout the entire match. Along with having no aces, the Utes had two service errors in the second set.
The Sun Devils once again capitalized on Utah’s service woes with three aces in the second set and no service errors. The Utes’ two service errors and ASU’s three aces resulted in a net gain of five points for the Sun Devils. This proved to be crucial in a set decided by six points.
The third set was when ASU’s blocking once again reached a season-high mark against Utah. Being a shorter team compared to the Big 12 conference, the Sun Devils have the second-lowest totals amongst the Big 12 in both blocks and blocks-per-set. Compared to how the rest of the Big 12 does in conference play, ASU ranks second to last in total blocks and has the third lowest blocks-per-set.
Nevertheless, ASU’s season-high 14 team blocks came against the Utes in four sets last month. At the time, the 3.5 blocks-per-set was also a season high. On Saturday, the Sun Devils set a new season-high 3.67 blocks-per-set against the same team. Of ASU’s three matches with double-digit team blocks, two of them were against Utah.
The Sun Devils have now won 10 matches in a row, the fourth-longest streak in team history and the second double-digit win streak under JJ Van Niel. Van Niel, coaching against the school where he got his collegiate coaching start, became ASU’s all-time fastest head coach to get 50 wins.
The Sun Devils now have double-digit conference wins in both seasons of the Van Niel era, as Saturday’s win was ASU’s 10th of the season. The sweep was ASU’s 15th of the season, tied for the program’s second-most in a single season. With six more sweeps, the Sun Devils would break the program record of 20 set in Van Niel’s first season.
