(Photo: Aiden Longbrake/WCSN)
Allen Fieldhouse. The historic multi-purpose arena lies in Lawrence, Kansas, as the home of the Kansas Jayhawks. In recent years, Arizona State has had relative success in the famous venue, with the most notable being ASU men’s basketball’s 95-85 victory in 2017.
On Sunday, the Sun Devils looked to repeat that type of success.
While it was not pretty, the No. 8 Sun Devils (15-3, 6-1 Big 12) overturned a 2-0 deficit to earn a reverse sweep victory over the 17th-ranked Jayhawks (12-5, 5-2 Big 12). The win moved ASU’s record to 7-1 against ranked opponents this season, and extended its six-game win streak.
Here are three takeaways from the comeback.
Sun Devils switch after second set
After dropping each of the first two sets, the ESPN broadcast turned over to the studio to reveal the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee’s initial Top-16 seeds for the NCAA Tournament. With six Top-25 wins and a No. 8 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll going into Sunday’s game, the Sun Devils were expected to be among the top of the list.
However, when the 16 were unveiled, ASU was nowhere to be found.
Despite beating three teams on the list, the Sun Devils were off pace to host the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. The Sun Devils’ performance in the first two sets seemingly proved the committee right.
ASU lost both of those sets in dominant fashion, 25-17 in the first and 25-14 in the second. In both sets, the Sun Devils struggled mightily with service reception, an issue that plagued them all season.
With ASU leading the first set 6-3, Reese Ptacek walked back to the service line hoping to spark the Jayhawks’ offense. Not only did she spark it, but she also sent the Sun Devils into a haze and confusion, rattling off five aces in six points. The 6-0 run of points pushed the crowd at Allen Fieldhouse to rain down noise that tends not to be heard until men’s basketball season.
While it is unlikely that the team found out about the ranking, or lack thereof, during the game, the Sun Devils’ play in the last three sets indicated a motivation to prove why they belong as a host for the postseason.
In the last three sets, the Sun Devils returned to the same level of defensive focus they found a week earlier against then-No.8 TCU. ASU finished Sunday with 14.5 blocks, led by fourth-year middle blocker Ella Lomigora’s eight. With a 10 a.m. MST start time, the Sun Devils may have woken up late–but not too late for head coach JJ Van Niel and his squad to come out victorious.
Noemie Glover shines
Early on this season, fourth-year opposite side hitter Noemie Glover looked like a shell of herself.
Although she was one of the best players on the court in almost all of the Sun Devils’ early games, her performances lacked the complete nature that she showed last year. A major part of her early inconsistencies was the lack of production around her, as teams could simply focus on her.
To start Sunday’s game, the Sun Devil offense hit the reverse button: a one-dimensional offensive approach. Whether it was third-year outside hitter Una Vajagic, fifth-year outside hitter Aniya Clinton or second-year outside hitter Maeva Shalk, the Sun Devils couldn’t find any production on the left side of their attack.
Clinton, riding a high of recent success, didn’t see much of the floor in the later sets as she compiled a hitting percentage of -.500, something Van Niel has long emphasized as unacceptable.
When the Sun Devils needed someone to perform, out came their superstar.
With the Jayhawks leading the fifth set 2-0, following a service error and service ace, Glover seemingly knew she had to make a play. As the ball came flying over the net and her teammate looked to set her up, Glover utilized her leadership. Glover didn’t ask for the ball; she let out a yell-like demand, saying “give me the ball”, in spite of there being three Kansas blockers in front of her.
She got the ball, loading up her ruthless left swing, hoping that her power was enough to get the ball through the Jayhawk block. When the ball moved over the net, it found the slightest hole, falling just inside the white line to win the point for the Sun Devils. That point flipped the momentum in the final set, allowing ASU to win the set and the match.
Glover finished Sunday’s game with a season-high 25 kills, two more than her previous highs against Arizona and Cincinnati. The former first-team All-American was also a key piece on the defensive side, picking up four blocks, consistently an enforcer with her middle blockers.
Slow starts keep haunting ASU.
While the Sun Devils won’t complain too much about picking up their seventh ranked win of the season, they still showed the same weaknesses that have consistently cost them sets throughout the season.
Van Niel harped on the idea that the Sun Devils must improve at receiving serves, as teams like UC Davis and West Virginia got the team out of system, leading to two unranked losses.
In the opening set on Sunday, ASU reverted to the poor habits that plagued it in earlier games, allowing Kansas to have a game’s worth of aces (8) in the opening set alone. When the Jayhawks weren’t winning points directly off serves, they were forcing the Sun Devil attack to look out of sorts.
Though the NCAA failing to rank ASU as a Top-16 seed surely was a shock to many Sun Devil fans, the issues presented in conference play, where the Sun Devils have just one sweep, can be pointed at as a potential reason why. If the Sun Devils can clean up their service reception, it is seemingly very unlikely that the committee will be able to leave them out of hosting.
ASU will remain on the road as it travels to Salt Lake City to take on Utah on Thursday at 6 p.m. MST.
