No. 23 Arizona State (16-1, 4-1 in Pac-12) came into Friday night’s Pink Game looking to further establish themselves as a legit contender going up against No. 3 USC (10-5, 4-1 in Pac-12).
ASU was able to stay strong and hold on in five sets (25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 15-25, 15-9) snapping USC’s nine-match win streak.
“There are a lot of emotions, it’s my former team who I love dearly. [USC coach Brad Keller] is literally like a brother to me,” head coach JJ Van Neil said. “It’s really funny because I had dinner with Brad and he goes ‘this is going five sets’ and sure enough it went five sets.”
The Sun Devils came out powerful, receiving big swings early from senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska who finished the night with 19 kills and senior middle blocker Claire Jeter who had 10.
ASU was able to grab control of the game by taking advantage of what the defense was giving them taking the first set 25-21.
“Their block is pretty good, they’re a pretty physical team,” Levinska said. “We focused on doing the things that we are supposed to do and hitting the shots that we are supposed to hit.”
The theme of the match was wearing pink to spread cancer awareness for all those who are affected. The Sun Devils had full support from their home crowd in what was an unusually empty Desert Financial Arena.
In the second set, USC battled back, finding some offensive star power of its own from senior outside hitter Skylar Fields who was really able to put the ball away ending with 24 kills.
There was a shift in USC’s play in the second half as the team was starting to set its blocks and shut down what ASU was doing offensively, taking the second set 25-21.
USC continued with its momentum to start the third set jumping out to a 19-13 lead and it looked as though the game was starting to slip from the Sun Devils.
However, this was not the case as ASU rallied and found a way to jump back and take the set 25-23.
Defensively, senior middle blocker Claire Jeter led the way with 4 blocks and graduate libero Mary Shroll with 19 digs.
Once again USC jumped out to an early 6-1 lead to start the fourth set. Keller’s squad didn’t take its foot off the pedal, taking it 25-15.
ASU was able to rely on its attacking and serving to take the fifth set 15-9. The Sun Devils offense is what ultimately gave them the x-factor, tallying a 77% hitting percentage to USC’s 46% in the fifth set.
“I think a super important part with that is just being gritty and being relentless. We knew coming into the fifth that we were just really fired up and ready to go,” Shroll said.
Arizona State will look to continue its dominance this Sunday, October 8 where they will host UCLA (9-6, 1-4 in Pac-12) at 1:00 p.m. inside Mullett Arena.
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