The No. 14 Arizona State Sun Devils (8-1) finished their non-conference Nebraska Classic tournament with two wins this weekend in Lincoln.
The Sun Devils played three games over the past three days, earning victories against Wichita State (3-6) and Long Beach State (4-3). However, they fell to No. 5 Nebraska (8-1) Friday night, keeping them from completing a tournament sweep.
Senior outside hitter Geli Cyr finished the weekend with 33 kills, the most on head coach JJ Van Niel’s team in the three games. Alongside Cyr were junior outside hitter Bailey Miller and graduate student outside hitter Shania Cromartie, who each finished with 23 kills.
ASU opened the tournament with a 3-0 sweep against Wichita State on Thursday. The Sun Devils were noticeably dominant against the Shockers as Van Niel’s side won the three sets at 21-19, 25-12 and 25-13.
Despite the win, the Sun Devils had a difficult task at hand later in the day as they played No. 5 Nebraska in front of 8,772 fans. The Cornhuskers won by winning three tightly contested sets, with senior outside hitter Merritt Beason tallying 15 kills against the Sun Devils.
Even with a closely contested game, the Sun Devils hopes of a tournament sweep ended as the Cornhuskers handed them their first loss of the season.
The tournament wrapped up for the Sun Devils on Saturday morning by sweeping Long Beach State 3-0. Graduate student setter Argentina Ung recorded 26 assists in the match, helping ASU improve to an 8-1 overall record.
The Sun Devils will play in the Webb-Burbridge Classic next week in Tempe before opening their Big-12 league debut at TCU on Sept. 25.
Leave a Reply