(Photo: Alex Amen/WCSN)
TEMPE – Heading into its matchup against No. 23 Colorado, No. 11 Arizona State was roughly in the middle of the pack in most major offensive stats in the Big 12.
Ninth in points, assists and kills, eighth in hitting percentage and sixth in service aces are not what you expect out of the 11th-ranked team in the nation. On Friday night, however, it set the record straight.
On a night where it gave out JJ Van Niel bottle openers, No. 11 Arizona State (12-3, 3-1 Big 12) can use those to celebrate a 3-1 victory over No. 23 Colorado (11-4, 2-3 Big 12) in a match that saw it exceed its offensive season averages to come out on top.
Coming into the matchup, Colorado was second in the Big 12 in total blocks, which seemed to pose problems for the Sun Devils in the early going as they dropped the first set 25-23 with only a .150 hitting percentage.
“We were just trying to remind our hitters of the areas on the court that were open,” Van Niel said. “I talk a lot about working smarter, not harder, so it’s just reminders of that and what’s open and where they need to be attacking.
The Sun Devils controlled the area around the net for the rest of the game, totaling 46 kills compared to the Buffaloes 26 over the final three sets. Third-year outside hitter Una Vajagic tallied a game-high 21 kills and 16 digs.
Fifth-year outside hitter Aniya Clinton said that Vajagic and the rest of the team were able to get a lot of those kills from finding open spots on the court, but at the end of the day, they don’t care how they go about it.
“The stat sheet doesn’t say, ‘Oh she bounced eight balls and tipped two,’” Clinton said. “It just says the kill. I think that’s kind of what we try to focus on. A kill is a kill and however you can get it, get it.”
In the third set, the Sun Devils went on a 16-6 run to open a 10-point advantage over the Buffaloes. This run, which eventually helped ASU win the set, showcased the offensive explosiveness of this squad with the team combining for seven kills.
“We knew that they’re really good blockers in front of us and we kind of knew that their defenders were gonna leave the middle of the court open,” Clinton said.
Following this ranked matchup with Colorado, ASU will host another ranked opponent in No. 8 TCU on Sunday. Despite the disparity in offensive statistics against the Buffaloes, Van Niel says that there are things that need fixing if they want a chance at beating another top-25 team.
“If we think we’re going to beat them, we have to play a lot cleaner in some areas,” Van Niel said.
Heading into the game against TCU, the Horned Frogs rank sixth in the Big 12 in opponent hitting percentage at .192. Clinton says that to keep up with teams in the Big 12, ASU needs to continue to exhibit the offensive production shown against Colorado.
“Last week JJ talked a lot about smothering people defensively,” Clinton said. “We want to make that our identity.”
