E(Las Cruces, NM) Four reached double figures and two earned career highs in kills as Sun Devil Volleyball beat UTEP in four sets (25-18, 25-13, 19-25, 25-10) on Friday, improving to 4-0 on the year.
Notable Stats
Arizona State (4-0) handed UTEP (4-1) its first loss of the season, out-hitting the Miners .403 to .243.
The serving game continues to be a key aspect of the Sun Devil game as the team had nine aces in the win. Two different Sun Devils had three aces: sophomore defensive specialist Estella Zatechka and senior middle blocker Claire Jeter. For Zatechka, that is a career high.
Senior outside hitter Roberta Rabelo had a breakout match, tying her career high of 15 kills, which she last reached in the 2020-21 season. Additionally, her .542 clip is a new personal best, beating her previous high of .357, also from the 2020-21 season.
Another Sun Devil had a career night as graduate middle blocker Maddie McLaughlinearned a career-high 10 kills on a career-high .667 clip.
Fifth-year senior Shannon Shields had a season-high 41 assists in the win. It was her fifth match of her career with 40-plus assists. She also added three kills and six digs.
The pins were firing on all cylinders today with three in double figures. Junior outside hitter Geli Cyr had the second-highest total with 13, her third match this season with double-digit kills. She also added seven digs.
Senior right side Marta Levinska notched 12 kills to move into 16th place for career kills at Arizona State, surpassing Ivana Jeremic (2016-19). She is 12 kills away from 15th place. She also increased her streak of matches with double-digit kills to 16, dating back to 2022. Levinska was also the dig leader for ASU, collecting nine, a season high.
The middle blockers were efficient for the team as both hit over .500. McLaughlin hit a personal-best .667 while Jeter had six kills on a .545 clip. Jeter led the blocking effort with three.
Arizona State’s 4-0 start to the season is the best since 2017, which also started 4-0.
Set One: ASU 25, UTEP 18
The Sun Devils played from behind in the first set, with the Miners getting up by as much as four at 10-6. However, Rabelo started catching fire, getting two-straight kills to spark a 3-0 run to get within one, 10-9. An ace from Levinska and a kill by Jeter tied the set at 14-14 before UTEP got back ahead. ASU scored four-straight points to take the lead and get up 18-16, forcing a UTEP timeout. With three kills from Rabelo, the Sun Devils ended the set on a 5-1 run to win 25-18. Rabelo had seven kills on nine attempts in the opening frame.
Set Two: ASU 25, UTEP 13
The second set saw Arizona State jump out to a 6-2 lead with kills from three different players. UTEP closed the gap, going on a 5-1 run to make it 7-7. However, the Sun Devils created separation again with four-straight points to make it an 11-7 lead. With Zatechka serving, ASU scored five-unanswered points, extending the advantage to 18-9. McLaughlin, who went 4 for 4 in the set, won on her fourth kill, 25-13.
Set Three: UTEP 25, ASU 19
UTEP came back in the third set. The Miners played ahead the entire set, scoring four in a row for UTEP, which made it an 8-4 lead and caused the first ASU timeout. A 5-1 run with two kills from Cyr tied it up at 11-11, but the Miners responded to take back the advantage. ASU would sideout to prevent long runs, but UTEP put together a pair of points at a time to hold the lead and win 25-19.
Set Four: ASU 25, UTEP 10
After falling 4-1 early, the final set was all Arizona State. The team went on a 5-0 run to take the 6-5 lead, the run seeing two kills from Cyr. Following some back and forth, the Sun Devils ran away with it behind Jeter’s serve, pushing the team on a 9-0 run to extend the advantage to 18-8. She had two aces in the run, as well as a pair of de facto aces that set up overpass kills for Rabelo and McLaughlin. With two more aces from Zatechka and kills from McLaughlin and Cry, ASU ended the set with five unanswered points to win 25-10. The serve really took charge this set, serving up four of the team’s nine in this frame.
Up Next
The Borderland Invitational will continue in El Paso, Texas tomorrow, facing San Francisco in Memorial Gym. The match will begin at 10 a.m. MDT / 9 a.m. MST and will have live scoring available.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Kimberlie Haner
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