No. 6 Arizona State takes the first of two in the Duel in the Desert

(Photo: Crawford McKinstry/WCSN)

TUCSON – In the first of the two matchups against in-state rival University of Arizona, No. 6 Arizona State beat the Wildcats; winning in four sets, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16, 25-16.

“Aside from the second set, I thought we played very clean ball,” ASU head coach JJ Van Niel said.

After jumping ahead right out the gate thanks to a 4-0 run, the Wildcats (11-8, 5-4 Big 12) quickly responded with a one of their own to take the lead.

The Sun Devils (17-2, 8-0 Big 12) answered back and built up some distance thanks to a 7-2 run, putting them ahead 15-11 entering the first media timeout. Coming back out, the Sun Devils didn’t let up, eventually winning the set 25-18.

A big help was sophomore libero Faith Frame, who once again put on a fantastic defensive showing for the Sun Devils by dives across the court to make point-saving digs. She ended the match third on the team in digs with 11.

Set two was closer, with U of A maintaining a lead for most of the set. They eventually built their biggest lead after a 5-1 run put the Wildcats up 16-11.

ASU immediately answered with their own run, to bring themselves back within one, but it wasn’t enough. The Sun Devils couldn’t get over the hump, dropping the second set 22-25 and splitting the first two.

After that second set, ASU came out for vengeance.

“We refocused our passing,” Van Niel said. “Once we are in a system, our offence is pretty tough.”

For set three, the Sun Devils came out and showed why they are a top-10 team in the country, winning the set 25-16. This was helped out by a 15-7 run to close it out and take a 2-1 lead.

This momentum carried right into the fourth set for the Sun Devils, who started out by jumping ahead 7-3, and took that all the way to a 25-16 set win and a 3-1 match win.

“As a team, we came together and played united,” junior middle blocker Ella Lomigora said. “Look at the stats and they say I played well, but I think it is a feel thing too and I thought we felt good.”

The biggest key for the Sun Devils tonight was the accuracy of their hits. Despite having 11 players on their team that are at least 6-feet tall, including three who are over 6’3, the Wildcats were only able to rack up two blocks and allowed ASU to finish with a .387 hitting percentage.

On the flip side, ASU was fantastic at the net; collecting nine blocks as a team and leading to the Wildcats finishing the match with a hitting percentage under .200.

Offensively, this game was dominated by three Sun Devils; highlighted by Bailey Miller’s 19 and followed by Noemie Glover with 15 and Lomigora with 10. For Miller, 19 kills is tied for the second highest mark in her career. This went along with two kills and 12 digs.

One Sun Devil was near perfect at the net during the match. Lomigora, who had 10 kills on 13 attempts, finished the match with an outstanding .769 on both her hitting percentage and kill percentage.

At the same time on the Wildcats side, one player was able to put together a similar game to Miller despite the loss. Arizona freshman opposite Renee Jones finished the match tied with Miller for the high in kills with 19, but did it on a .118 hit percentage.

“We focused a lot on being aggressive on the service line,” Lomigora said. “Making sure that all our shots are going to get them out of system and put pressure on them. So we as blockers are able to put up a big block and take up space.”

The Sun Devils will try and continue their hot streak against Big 12 opponents, next facing the TCU Horned Frogs on Wednesday at 6 p.m. AZT in Desert Financial Area.

“Our serve is what sets things up,” Van Niel said. “I thought our serving got a lot better in that third and fourth set and once we are off the net, we are physical.”