Sun Devils sweep UCLA, win season series for first time since 1995

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

Before Friday’s match at Pauley Pavilion, located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, had historically seemed like a cursed ground for No. 15 Arizona State volleyball (22-3, 10-3 Pac-12).

Heading into the contest, ASU held an all-time record of 1-18 when facing UCLA (13-10, 5-8 Pac-12) on the road with its most previous and only road win being in 2013, also serving as the last time the Sun Devils even won a set at Pauley Pavilion.

However, this season has been different for ASU compared to the last decade. Heading into this match, the Sun Devils were coming off of consecutive home sweeps, one of them being an upset win against No. 5 Stanford that shocked the nation. ASU’s last win against Cal was its 21st win of the season, the most wins by the school this century.

The result of Friday’s match reflected that this is not the same Sun Devils team from recent memory. The decade-long road game losing streak came to an end as ASU swept UCLA 31-29, 25-11, 25-13. The Sun Devils swept the Bruins in Tempe on Oct. 8, marking the second time in school history that they swept UCLA twice in a single season. This was also the first time the Sun Devils completed a series sweep against UCLA since 1995.

The first set was a back-and-forth slugfest that felt like it was never going to end. In total, there were 18 ties and 10 lead changes. ASU had an opportunity to win the set when a kill by senior middle blocker Claire Jeter gave the team set point 24-23, but UCLA immediately responded by tying it up. UCLA then had set point at 25-24, but a kill by Jeter kept the Sun Devils alive. ASU would achieve set point five more times before eventually an attack error made by UCLA sophomore outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette sealed a hard-fought first-set victory for the Sun Devils 31-29. This was the longest set of the season for ASU.

The second and third sets had a significantly lower duration and weren’t nearly as contested. ASU dominated the second set from start to finish 25-11 with no ties or lead changes. There was slightly more resistance from UCLA in the third set with just one lead change and one tie. In the end, the Sun Devils were simply too much for the Bruins and they sealed the match with a 25-13 third set victory.

ASU’s offense consistently performed at a high level throughout the entire match. The Sun Devils collectively averaged a hitting percentage of .333, .412, and .353 in the first, second, and third sets, averaging a total .364 team hitting percentage. The defensive performance for ASU was night and day when comparing the first set to the final two sets. In the first set, UCLA notched a .278 team hitting percentage. A stark contrast to the Bruins’ team hitting percentages of .000 and .081 in the second and third sets.

Friday’s win was ASU’s 16th sweep this season, the most in school history. In addition to this, the Sun Devils achieved double-digit Pac-12 Conference wins in a season for the first time since 1999. ASU now stands three conference wins away from tying the school record for most conference wins in a season with seven conference opponents remaining.

As the team continues to make history, so does senior outside hitter Marta Levinska. The Latvian’s team-leading 14 kills moved her to eighth in the school record book with 1,392 career kills. Joining her with double-digit kills was senior middle blocker Claire Jeter, notching 10 kills on a season-high .667 clip.

The Sun Devils will continue their Southern California road trip on Sunday, this time at Galen Center to face USC (15-8, 9-4 Pac-12) for the second time this season.