The No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils continued their historic season on Saturday night by sweeping the Utah Utes 25-23, 27-25, 25-17 at Desert Financial Arena.
The shorthanded Sun Devils did not have an injured graduate student middle blocker Maddie McLaughlin for the game. Senior middle blocker Claire Jeter had food poisoning, which made her start questionable.
Head coach JJ Van Niel commended his team’s ability to get wins while fighting through adversity.
“[We] didn’t pass really well but scrapped out wins in the end, which was great,” Van Niel said. “I think any time you can maybe not play the way you’re used to playing and still pull out a win in a set is really good.”
The game remained close in the first set. The Utes held a three-point lead to start the game. The Sun Devils obtained their first lead of the day up 16-15.
Both sides continued to trade the lead. But Van Niel’s side went on a 5-2 run to take the first set 25-23 and a 1-0 match lead.
After a close first set, both sides went on runs in the second. Arizona State went on a 15-8 run following Utah’s 3-1 lead to start the set.
The Utes followed with a 5-1 run to trail 18-17. Arizona State responded with a 4-1 run before Utah tied the game up at 25. But the hosts won the next two points via a kill from senior outside hitter Marta Levinska and an Utah attacking error. Levinska’s kill was one of her 11 in the second set.
“I was in my groove, I was pretty comfortable,” Levinska said on her second set performance. “[Senior setter] Shannon [Shields] was giving me great sets. I tried to be aggressive with my serve, get some touches because all those little things matter.”
In the third set, The Sun Devils swung momentum in their favor. They went on a 17-9 run after being tied at eight apiece to win the set 25-17, with three of their last four points coming from Utah attack errors.
With the win, Arizona State moves to 24-4 on the season and 12-4 in conference play. It also moves the Sun Devils closer toward their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2015.
“This is what the season was for: make the tournament,” Shields said. “[It’s what] we’ve been striving for, that’s our goal. We haven’t done it since I’ve been here. So, I’m excited to be able to continue forth with this momentum into the tournament.”
Levinska led the attack with 21 kills. That performance ties her record for most kills in a three-set match, which was set this past Sunday against USC.
Graduate student libero Mary Shroll led the defense with 14 digs, which pushed her current double-digit dig streak to six. Junior outside hitter Geli Cyr came in second with nine digs.
Despite being swept, the Utes outclassed the Sun Devils. They had 46 kills and 55 digs compared to the hosts’ 39 kills and 46 digs.
However, Utah mustered more errors than Arizona State. The Utes had 22 errors on the day while the Sun Devils only had 13. 14 of those were from their outside hitters, junior Lauren Jardine and freshman Kamryn Gibaldo, who combined for 18 kills on the day.
Arizona State looks to remain unbeaten at home against the No. 6 Oregon Ducks (22-5 overall, 12-4 in Pac-12). The Sun Devils swept the Ducks in Eugene earlier this year, looking for another season sweep.
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