TEMPE – While Arizona State’s football team lost grip of its 10-game home winning streak, its volleyball team had no trouble continuing its hot streak at home on Wednesday night.
No. 6 ASU returned to Tempe after a three-game road trip and captured its ninth-straight home victory — 12th straight victory overall — against the No. 13 TCU Horned Frogs.
Fake glasses and mustaches, along with decks of cards, filled the stands of Desert Financial Arena, as the team handed out giveaways celebrating coach JJ Van Niel. He repaid the crowd, which hasn’t seen a loss at home yet this season, with a convincing 3-1 victory.
“One of the things I was excited about when I took this opportunity was DFA,” Van Niel said. “When you’re the opponent, the 942 is in your ear. It’s like having a seventh person on the court.”
TCU woes allowed the Sun Devils to jump out to a 7-2 lead in the first set, with the two Horned Frog points coming off out-of-bounds serves from ASU.
The Maroon and Gold held on to the sizable lead through the first set. Sophomore libero Faith Frame and senior outside hitter Tatum Parrot fueled the squad’s strong defense, combining for 24 of the team’s total of 50 digs
“When we recruited her (Frame), we knew she had the capacity to do that,” Van Niel said.
Parrot’s set-winning block capped off a first frame that saw Van Niel’s squad win by a whopping 14 points, as ASU cruised to a 1-0 lead after a dominant 25-11 set.
The second set brought high intensity, with five set-tied scores and two lead changes. TCU sophomore outside hitter Evan Hendrix sparked most of the momentum for the visitors and led the team with 17 kills overall.
The back-and-forth set ended with Horned Frogs outside hitter Lauren Murphy recording three kills in a row for her team to even the matchup 1-1.
By the third set, it was clear that when given a lead, ASU wouldn’t give it back. The Sun Devils marched to an advantage of 8-1, looking like a completely different team than what it showed in the previous set.
“We definitely weren’t holding ourselves to the same standard we usually do,” graduate middle blocker Colby Neal said about the second set. “Knowing that we can drop a set, and we can still come back, that gives us a ton of confidence.”
And they did come back — in a resounding way.
The Sun Devils maintained at least a five-point lead throughout the third set, scoring on seven of the final nine possessions to give them a 25-13 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, the Frogs tacked on two to begin the frame, but Sparky stormed back, winning 10 of its next 13 to hold a comfortable lead once again. It proved to be a lead that the Frogs couldn’t reclaim as the Sun Devils secured the victory in a 3-1 thriller.
The victory marked Sparky’s ninth-straight Big 12 win, with nine more conference games in the season.
Now, the Sun Devils have a quick turnaround to Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa, to take on the Iowa State Cyclones on Friday at 4:30 p.m. MST.
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