(Tucson, AZ) Winning its fourth rivalry match in a row, No. 13 Sun Devil Volleyball went down south to the McKale Center and beat Arizona in four sets (25-23, 15-25, 25-19, 25-15) on Thursday night.
Notable Stats
Arizona State (20-2, 8-1 Big 12) secured its eighth-straight win by beating Arizona (13-6, 2-6 Big 12) for the fourth time in the row.
This is the second year in the row the Sun Devils have had a 20-win season, the 13th time in program history and fourth time this century. Only two other times has ASU had consecutive 20-win seasons (1992-93, 1985-86).
Under head coach JJ Van Niel, Arizona State is 6-0 against in-state teams. There are four wins over Arizona, one over Northern Arizona and one over Grand Canyon.
Senior outside hitter Geli Cyr extended her double-double streak to six in a row after notching a team-high 14 kills and 11 digs. Her 14 kills tonight marks the 16th double digit kills in a match this season. The streak of six matches in a row with double-digit careers is the longest such streak of her career. She also had two aces.
Graduate setter Argentina Ung added on another double-double stat line to reach nine double-doubles this season thus far with 38 assists and 13 digs. She has reached 38 or more assists in a match five times this season. Additionally, she earned a new season high in kills with eight and served up a game-high three aces.
Graduate outside hitter Shania Cromartie flew all over the court and reached a new career high in digs with 17. This marks her fourth time reaching 10-plus digs in a game this season.
Leading the defense at the net was graduate middle blocker Claire Jeter with a match-high six blocks to go with her eight kills. She moved into third place in the ASU record book for career block assists, now with 335.
At libero, graduate Mary Shroll had a match-high 19 digs. She’s had double-digit digs in all but one match this season.
The offense was balanced as usual, with five earning at least seven kills. Graduate pin hitter Roberta Rabelo was one of three with eight kills, coming off the bench to make an impact.
Set One: ASU 25, Arizona 23
The Sun Devils battled back-and-forth with the Wildcats at the start until the Sun Devils were able to pull away with a 5-0 run, finding themselves ahead 8-5 heading into a timeout taken by the home team. With the help of back-to-back kills by Cyr, ASU was able to increase the lead to 13-7. The Sun Devils kept their foot on the gas with the help of a kill by Savannah Kjolhede, growing their lead to 16-8, forcing the Wildcats to take their second timeout of the first set. Despite Arizona putting together two separate 3-0 runs, ASU was able to hold their ground to hold onto a 20-19 lead, leading into ASU’s first timeout of the set. With the help of separate kills by Cyr and Kjolhede, the Sun Devils were able to pull away and take set one, 25-23.
Set Two: Arizona 25, ASU 15
The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 5-3 lead but the Sun Devils were able to tie it up 6-6 with the help of a service ace by Cyr. ASU fought back-and-forth with Arizona until the home team was able to go on a 6-0 run, holding a 15-9 lead heading into a media timeout. The Sun Devils and Wildcats exchanged points to give the Wildcats an 18-12 lead, leading to a timeout taken by the Sun Devils to regroup. After the timeout, ASU was not able to capitalize and Arizona took set two, 25-15
Set Three: ASU 25, Arizona 19
The Sun Devils jumped out of the gate to an early 5-2 lead, but the Wildcats found their momentum from the last set and was able to tie it 9-9. ASU was able to find their own momentum in completing a 3-0 run to take a 15-14 lead heading into a media timeout. Following the timeout, the Sun Devils shot out the gate and went on a 4-0 run to take a 20-16 lead, forcing the Wildcats to take a quick timeout. Using that momentum, Roberta Rabelo notched two kills that led to back-to-back service aces by Ung to take set three 25-19.
Set Four: ASU 25, Arizona 15
ASU continued where they left off and took a comfortable 7-3 lead to start the fourth set. The Sun Devils didn’t stop there, a 3-0 run further extending their lead to 11-5 with the help of two kills by Kjolhede, forcing Arizona to take their first timeout of the set. Two blocks assisted by Jeter gave ASU a 17-10 lead, having Arizona call their second timeout to regroup. Another 3-0 run by the Sun Devils propelled them to take the fourth set 25-15.
Arizona State Head Coach JJ Van Niel
On what it means to get a win against a rival on the road
“I think any road win is a good win, especially when they had a big crowd out here. They tried to get a bunch of people out here. We had a bunch of people down here, 942 Crew came down, which is great. I think we were louder than them. Any time you get a road win, it’s a good win and I’m really proud of how we kind of battled through some adversity. It wasn’t looking pretty for a while. Finally got the win.”
Up Next
Arizona State will head to Utah next week to face BYU on October 31 and Utah on November 2.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Zach Romesburg
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