After seeing its 25-conference-winning streak snapped by Iowa State last week, No. 8 Arizona State (19-3 overall, 10-1 Big 12) looked to respond on Wednesday against Texas Tech.
So, ASU coach JJ Van Niel turned to his assistants to scout the Sun Devils’ next opponents: Texas Tech (10-13 overall, 2-9 Big 12). And it paid off.
The Sun Devils earned their first sweep in six games, defeating the Red Raiders 3-0 at Desert Financial Arena.
Van Niel says none of it would be possible without the strong scouting reports from assistant coaches Preslie Anderson and Shaughn McDonald.
“Preslie did a really nice job with their (Texas Tech) defensive scout,” Van Niel said. “Shaughn did a really good one with the offensive scout, and our team did a really nice job of executing (it).”
Junior opposite hitter Noemie Glover finished with double-digit kills for the 11th straight game as the team recorded a .363 hitting percentage. Defensively, the Sun Devils notched 10 blocks, with junior middle blocker Ella Lomigora logging her season-high tally with eight on the night.
ASU dominated in the first set, scoring 14 straight points, and comfortably won the frame 25-6. Defensively, the Sun Devils recorded six blocks while the Red Raiders made 14 attacking errors.
In recent weeks, Van Niel’s side struggled in second sets, having dropped the round four times in its last five games. This time, however, the Sun Devils cruised to a 25-20 win despite early hiccups.
“It was a little sloppy at the start, and then we kind of cleaned it up,” Van Niel said. “I think in our last three matches at home, we’ve crushed them in the first set, and then laid an egg in the second. So it was nice to see us kind of maintain the mental toughness to keep pushing.”
Lomigora posted her eighth block of the game early in the third set, surpassing her season-high for blocks in a game for Sparky. The middle blocker also finished with five kills on the night, recording five or more kills in three of her last four games.
Her effort helped ASU cap off the win in a 25-16 third-set victory.
“We were really aggressive on the service line,” Lomigora said. “I think that contributed a lot to us being able to be really strong defensively and contributed to blocks.
“We really good at scouting and knowing our rotations. They were changing a lot of their lineups up, but we just stayed calm and we’re constantly communicating on the front row, which brought a lot of confidence to each other.”
With the victory, the Maroon and Gold sit level with Colorado at the summit of the Big 12 standings. Both teams are tied for first place with a 10-1 record and seven games remaining.
ASU returns to Desert Financial Arena on Friday for a match against No. 21 BYU at 7 p.m. MST.
“Just taking it each day at a time, one game at a time,” Lomigora said on the team staying motivated for the upcoming weeks. “We focus tonight, we took care of business. Now it’s a quick turnover, but tomorrow we’re going to come in ready to work and just being really intentional with every rep that we take so we can prepare for Friday.”
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