Arizona State entered Thursday night’s contest winners of its last 12 and looked to continue that streak against the University of Arizona.
The perfect season continued for ASU, as the team would sweep Arizona (5-7) in dominating fashion to move to 13-0.
The Pac-12 opener against in-state rival Arizona only meant more fuel for the Sun Devils.
From the start, the Sun Devils played like they were on a mission, feeding from the energy of their home crowd, who roared in excitement every time ASU touched the ball.
“We’ve been on the road for five weeks so we’re super excited to just be home and just seeing all the fans and our families and everything just feels homey and comfortable,” senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska said.
The first set was a back-and-forth matchup. ASU’s offense exploded with Levinska leading the team with 19 kills and a hitting percentage of 40%.
The Wildcats would respond with some momentous from senior outside hitter Sofia Diaz, who finished the night with 17 kills.
“They did a really nice job throughout almost the first two sets of just continuing to pass,” head coach JJ Van Neil said. “I think that put some pressure on our servers because we haven’t seen that as we’ve been serving pretty tough this year.”
The Sun Devils hung on to win the first set 25-22.
“It’s fun, we’re amazing and I know I can set anyone on the court because we have that full trust in each other,” graduate setter Shannon Shields said. “I know if I make a mistake they’re not going to look at me any differently and I’m going to set that ball again and we’re going to score.”
The second set began a little differently as Arizona jumped out to an early 9-6 lead. The Wildcats were starting to utilize some back-row hits along with some stellar pancake digs from freshman libero Giorgia Mandotti.
Nonetheless, the Sun Devils were able to counter and take the set 25-21. This was thanks to some serving aces from junior outside hitter Shania Cromartie and graduate libero Mary Shroll, who each recorded two aces.
It was not just one player that made the difference for ASU. It was the collective play of everyone contributing to the team’s success and energy during the game.
On the defensive side, the Sun Devils recorded a total of four team blocks along with 43 digs with 23 of those digs being split between junior outside hitter Geli Cyr and Shroll.
“Geli at the beginning wasn’t hitting great but she was passing really well and defending really well,” Neil said. “Those are really big deals because when part of your game isn’t working, you step up in other ways and help your team and our whole team did that.”
ASU had virtually the same start to the third set as it did to the first set. The team received a pair of kills from Levinska, who again was a spark for an offense firing on all cylinders.
Shields had full command of the offense. It didn’t matter what blocking Arizona put together as Shields would always find one of her teammates and put them in a great position to score.
Arizona State collectively finished the night with 46 kills, good for fourth-best all season. The Sun Devils would take the third set 25-15.
The Arizona State Sun Devils will look to continue the success they had against Arizona as they are set to take on the Washington Huskies this Sunday at 1 p.m. MST in Mullett Arena.
“I think Washington, similar to us, is very focused on their serving and I think we could have done a better job of serving which is where we will go head to head with them,” Levinska said.
In what will be a 50th Anniversary Celebration game, the Sun Devils will have another chance to keep the perfect season alive.
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