ASU Volleyball: Undefeated Sun Devils down Huskies in four sets

(Photo via WCSN)

TEMPE – Despite dropping the first set, Arizona State Women’s Volleyball responded on Sunday against the Washington Huskies (9-4, 0-2 Pac-12) by winning three straight sets to capture a victory for the team’s 50th anniversary celebration and improve to 14-0 on the season.

Washington came out firing on all cylinders, as it matched the Sun Devils’ high-powered offense point for point. The Huskies broke free with a 5-1 run to make the score 18-14, forcing ASU to take a timeout and regroup.

The break helped the Sun Devils regain some momentum, as senior outside hitter Roberta Rabelo crushed a massive spike to cut into Washington’s lead, making the score 20-22.

But the efforts were not enough to win the set, as Washington went on a 5-0 run led by freshmen middle blocker Katy Wessels, who had a massive block for a point as the Huskies took the first set 25-22.

ASU head coach JJ Van Niel thought the Sun Devils’ performance in the first set had less to do with Washington and more to do with how his own group started the contest, even though he credited the Huskies with being one of the best-serving teams in the country.

“I thought in the first set we were tentative … weren’t serving tough. Little tentative on some of the attacking stuff,” Van Niel said.

Luckily for the Sun Devils, they were able to shrug off their first-set woes and win the next three sets comfortably by refocusing their execution in the serving game, something that has been a big focus for the squad.

“A big thing for us this year has been our consistency and kind of battling back when things like that happen,” graduate transfer libero Mary Shroll said. “So I thought we responded really, really well after that first set loss … missing some serves and service pressures.”

Senior middle blocker Claire Jeter also said serving well helps the offense run at a quicker pace, which aids the hitters in being assertive when trying to score.

“Once we started putting our foot on the gas with our serves, I think it was really easy to keep that,” Jeter said. “I think that once we make a few in, we’ve locked in at that point, and if you miss, you miss aggressive … no one’s going to get mad at you if you miss aggressive.”

That aggressiveness clearly paid off as ASU had five aces on Sunday while limiting the Huskies to zero, an impressive defensive stat to be proud of.

After ASU began clicking with its serves while stopping Washington’s, the rest of the offense fell into place, so much so that the Huskies didn’t have an answer for the Sun Devils in the remaining three sets.

In sets four, five and six, the Sun Devils won by an average of 8 points per set and faced little resistance in scoring points. Four Sun Devils tallied double-digit kills, with senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska leading the way with 19.

ASU also played great defensively down the stretch with eight blocks on the stat sheet to limit Washington’s attacking opportunities.

Another key for the Sun Devils in slowing down the Huskies was through their offensive passing, which helped throw Washington off-balance in its lethal serving game, something the Huskies also put an emphasis on.

That hit home for the Sun Devils, who understand the importance of good serving while also knowing how to defend it.

“I think it’s hard for a team that’s such a good serving team to play a team that’s great at passing,” Jeter said. “And I think at some point, it makes them struggle because they’re trying to do more than they need to.”

Even with the dominant last three sets, Van Niel’s main takeaway from Sunday was how his unit handled adversity from losing the first frame.

“You get a win, you’re always happy,” Van Niel said. “I was more proud of how they responded after not playing well. It was the first set loss in a little while, so it’s kind of cool to see that they had some resilience, you know. They didn’t crater, and they just stepped it up and kept playing their game.”