No. 15 Arizona continues winning ways against No. 20 BYU in an impressive sweep

(Photo: Maya Diaz/WCSN)

TEMPE – An attack error in the second set by senior outside hitter Geli Cyr could’ve signified Arizona State was starting to crumble after a back-and-forth victory in set one. Instead, the very next play, a kill from Savannah Kjolhede started a hot streak BYU couldn’t keep up with.

Kjolhede’s kill, assisted by graduate setter Argentina Ung, wasn’t a powerful one. She tipped the ball just over the net and heads of BYU’s awaiting blockers, watching it fall on the floor before another Cougar could dig it out. It acted as a powerful moment in the game, leading to a 5-1 run and forcing BYU to call a timeout down 17-13 after climbing back another early deficit.

The Sun Devils might have let the Cougars tie the second set once, but from that point on the two teams wouldn’t be on equal footing again.

No. 15 Arizona State (14-2, 3-1 Big 12) won Friday night’s home matchup against No. 20 BYU (9-5, 2-2 Big 12) in a straight sweep. The Sun Devils never getting too high during the good times or too low during challenging moments was a key to their success.

“I think we do a good job, just kind of disposing of what doesn’t help and what helps,” Ung said. “We just learn after each play, after each set. We just like to take that in, soak it all in, and just try to make it work in our favor.”

A short-term memory is always important in sports. Another important psychological aspect of being an athlete is always making it look like you’re carrying a level head. Projecting confidence no matter the situation is just one aspect that makes head coach JJ Van Niel proud of his team.

“I think when you’re a coach you kind of take it for granted but they just go out and do their jobs, and fight really, really hard and you never really can tell if we’re up or down and I think that’s really special, I think that also puts pressure on other teams because they see it,” Van Niel said.

Arizona State was challenged by the Cougars for a good chunk of the first set. The Sun Devils pulled out to a 10-3 lead but allowed BYU to claw back into the set. The two teams traded blows back and forth with ASU maintaining a 16-14 lead.

A Geli Cyr serve sparked a back-and-forth rally that featured amazing digs from Arizona State graduate libero Mary Shroll and was finished off by a spike from Ung. It was not only a big rally that swung momentum ASU’s way, allowing them to go on an 8-3 run from that point on to win the set 25-17, the point was a microcosm of the Sun Devils play Friday night. It showed how ASU got the job done point after point.

The multiple digs that were made during that rally were something that was carried throughout the match. Shroll and Cyr led the way with 17 and 13 digs respectively.

“Ask any attacker,” Van Niel said. “When they keep swinging and get dug and the ball keeps coming back they start getting frustrated and they press, make kind of uncharacteristic errors potentially. So I love how much we scrap, we’ve talked about that since day one in our gym.”

The digs were crucial in elongating rallies and allowing for all those kills as Ung spread the wealth. Graduate middle blocker Claire Jeter was the only Sun Devil to record double-digit kills, scoring 11.

The Sun Devil offensive output was a complete team effort. Graduate middle blocker Savannah Kjolhede, graduate outside hitter Shania Cromartie and Cyr had eight, seven and seven kills respectively, and seven different Sun Devils registered a kill, with Shroll joining the points-scoring action with three service aces.

It’s a true team effort between the players collecting the kills and Ung setting them up with 31 assists.

“I think it makes every single hitter’s job easier (when so many players are getting kills) and I think (Argentina) has been doing a really great job of spreading our offense,” Kjolhede said. “It makes it really hard for a blocker on the other side.”

ASU controlled the third and final set from start to finish. The Sun Devils led the whole set, winning 25-20 to complete the sweep. The win gives Arizona State a 5-0 record at home before Arizona comes north for a rivalry matchup next Wednesday.

“I think you can’t overlook any team, and that comes with every single conference,” Kjolhede said. “Going into our first game, you can’t overlook TCU, no matter what you’re ranked. You can’t overlook Baylor. You can’t overlook Utah, that is a great volleyball team. And I think if you take it with like a ‘oh, well, they’re sixth in the Big 12, we really don’t need to play that well,’ you can’t.

“I think that’s something that our coaches do a really good job of, and our team does a really good job of, is it’s not ‘Oh like right now we’re ranked higher we’re playing well, we can slack off,’ you can’t.”