(Nashville, TN) Behind a balanced offense, No. 17 Sun Devil Volleyball earned its first sweep of the season by beating Lipscomb in straight sets (25-13, 25-21, 25-20) on Saturday at Allen Arena.
Notable Stats
Arizona State improves to 2-0 with the win over Lipscomb (1-1). In the first road win of the season, ASU out-hit the home team .303 to .159.
Matching her kill total from yesterday, senior outside hitter Geli Cyr led the team again in kills with 15. She hit a solid .371 with five digs and an ace.
The offense was balanced, with the next four kill leaders all notching seven or eight apiece. Pin hitters Shania Cromartie and Bailey Miller had eight and seven, respectively. For Cromartie, that number matches her previous best while at ASU.
The graduate middle blockers Claire Jeter and Savannah Kjolhede and eight and seven kills, respectively. The middles also played solid defense, with Jeter earning six digs (a career high) and Kjolhede notching five.
Graduate libero Mary Shroll had another solid outing, reaching double-digit digs again with a game-high 17.
Starting setter graduate Argentina Ung had 31 assists in the win, adding seven digs.
Redshirt freshman Brynn Covell has proven herself as a key utility player thus far. She had four aces (besting her three from yesterday), eight digs and seven assists.
Set One: ASU 25, Lipscomb 13
An early 4-0 run put Arizona State up 6-3 behind kills from Kjolhede and Cromartie. Cyr had a pair of kills in another run of four, extending the lead to 12-7. The biggest streak for the Sun Devils was five in a row to win the set 21-13, Ung serving on that run and dishing out five assists to three different Devils.
Set Two: ASU 25, Lipscomb 21
The Bison got ahead 8-4 to start the second frame after scoring four-straight. However, the Sun Devils started chipping away with a well-balanced attack, seeing kills from Jeter, Miller, Kjolhede and Cyr, the latter tying it up at 10-10. With Cyr at the service line, she and the team rattled off three in a row to take the lead, 13-12. It was back and forth for a while until a crucial challenge from head coach JJ Van Niel got a kill for Miller, which Cyr followed up with her 10th kill to put ASU up 21-18 and force a Lipscomb timeout. A kill from Cromartie ended the set, 25-21.
Set Three: ASU 25, Lipscomb 20
A solo block from Cromartie got Arizona State up 5-3 early, but Lipscomb took control of the set. A 5-1 run for the home team gave them the 9-6 lead. The Bison scored four in a row to extend the advantage to 14-9. However, ASU started putting together a couple points at a time to scrape back into it. With Jeter at the service line, Arizona State took back control with a 7-0 run to go up 24-19. Miller’s kill at set point completed the sweep, 25-20.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Kimberlie Haner
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