(Tempe, AZ) Behind a career high in kills from Geli Cyrand massive dig totals from the team, No. 13 Sun Devil Volleyball beat Arizona in four sets (25-20, 23-25, 31-29, 25-15) in front of the fourth-largest crowd in program history at Desert Financial Arena on Wednesday night.
Notable Stats
Arizona State (15-2, 4-1 Big 12) won its third straight in the rivalry matchup against Arizona (12-4, 1-4 Big 12) and third straight on the year.
This is the first matchup between the two schools in any sport this season, with ASU getting the first half point in the Territorial Cup Series.
The Sun Devils had 93 digs in the win, the most by a Big 12 team this season in a match.
With her best numbers of the season, graduate setter Argentina Ung notched her 24th double-double of her career, fifth of the season, with 42 assists (ties season high) and a career-high 20 digs. This was her second time this season with 40 or more assists in a match this season.
Graduate libero Mary Shroll had 32 digs, a season high. This was her fifth match this season with 20-plus digs and her first eclipsing 30. This was her 19th-straight match with double-digit digs. Her total is the second-highest by a Big 12 player this season, one off of the highest total of 33 from Ella Larkin from Kansas State.
Senior outside hitter Geli Cyr reached a new career high with 23 kills. This is the highest kill total by a Sun Devil this season and the most since Marta Levinska reached it last year. Cyr had double figures in just the second set. She notched double-digit kills for the 11th time this season. Additionally, she had her third double-double of the year with 17 digs, matching her season high.
Graduate outside hitter Shania Cromartie had 12 kills, her sixth match in double figures this season. She was one dig away from a double-double with nine.
The middle blockers had a strong outing for Arizona State. Savannah Kjolhede led the blocking effort with four to go with her seven kills. Claire Jeter had nine kills and a pair of blocks.
Coming off the bench in the third set, junior opposite Bailey Miller had six kills on 10 attempts with no errors.
Redshirt freshman Brynn Covell matched her career high in assists with nine while adding eight digs.
Attendance was 4,630, the fourth-largest crowd all-time at Arizona State.
Set One: ASU 25, Arizona 20
The Sun Devils started off this closely-contested battle of a set between the Wildcats tied 9-9. With the help of a monster block by Jeter and kills by Cromartie and Cyr, ASU found themselves up 15-11 followed by a timeout. Cyr quickly added to the Sun Devil’s lead with two kills in a row to go up 18-11, Arizona called a timeout shortly after to regroup. Not stopping there, Cyr added another pair of kills to give ASU a 21-15 lead. Cromartie’s kill brought ASU to set point at 24-19, the Sun Devils then took set one 25-20.
Set Two: Arizona 25, ASU 23
The Wildcats quickly went up 3-1 but with two kills by Cyr, ASU got within one 4-5. Cyr rallied on two more kills; however, Arizona kept the scoring close after tying it 14-14. ASU added one to go up 15-14, a timeout was then called by the visitors. The Wildcats tied it again 18-18 as they continued to fight back to reach a 23-21 lead over the Sun Devils. After going down by three, ASU fought off two set points to get within one at 24-23 with the help of a kill by Kjolhede. After a timeout by Arizona, the Sun Devils couldn’t capitalize and the Wildcats took set two 25-23.
Set Three: ASU 31, Arizona 29
The third set began with a rapid 6-2 lead for Arizona as it continued to build off its momentum from the last set. After ASU called for a timeout, the Sun Devils fought back with a 6-0 run to take the 8-7 lead. After some back and forth, ASU stepped up to a 12-10 lead. Not long after, Arizona found a rhythm and reached a 22-19 lead over ASU. With the refusal to quit, ASU ferociously fought back for a 23-22 lead, and Arizona then called a timeout to steady the adrenaline. Cyr got a kill that carried the Sun Devils to reach set point 24-23. Both schools refused to go down quietly and battled into extra points. Arizona State had six set points and Arizona had one, but ASU came out victorious 31-39 with a pivotal kill by Cyr.
Set Four: ASU 25, Arizona 15
The final set started off close but ASU managed to tack on a 10-6 lead with a series of kills from Cyr and Cromartie, and Arizona followed with a timeout. The Sun Devils added on six more including kills by Cyr, Jeter, and two from Miller to make it 16-9, forcing the Wildcats to call for another timeout. ASU advanced to a 23-15 lead over Arizona thanks to kills by Jeter and Kjolhede. A kill by Ung got the Sun Devils to match point, which ended in a set four win for ASU, 25-15.
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening Statement
“A rivalry win, fourth largest crowd, 4600 fans. What an environment. Thank you to the fans, we love it. We had the band there, we had cheer there, we had a massive amount of fans. We had a massive amount of athletes: men’s swimming, they were great. 942 (Crew) absolutely representing and it means a lot to our team and really helps to have the home court advantage, so that was awesome.”
On Geli (Cyr) getting a new career high kill record:
“Geli is playing phenomenal right now and she carries a really, really heavy load. She also had 17 digs, that’s insane. It’s a big deal for her. I’m sure she gets confident. She’s an undersized kid. She’s not some of those big hitters that regularly have six kills a set, but she does it by being really, really crafty. She’s done a phenomenal job since I’ve gotten here, she’s really worked hard at her craft and always finds ways to score, despite being kind of undersized.”
On how big the third set was for the team’s mentality:
“I think it helps just give us some confidence. You’re going to have some doubts. In the first set, we probably should have beaten them by a little bit more, a couple of let downs at the end, and then all of a sudden in the second set, we were ahead, and they came back and beat us. I think in that third set, it’s natural that doubt’s going to creep in your head, but we’re fortunate that we have a really veteran team. Shroll has been around, Geli’s been around, these guys have been through it. Claire’s been around, Savannah has been around, they’re all veterans. Regardless of saying that, you still have times where doubts kind of creep in there. I was really proud of them for fighting through and pulling that one off. That was pretty cool.”
Up Next
Arizona State will hit the road to face Texas Tech this Saturday. It will be live on ESPN+ at 11 a.m. MST/1 p.m. CDT.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Lauren Nunez
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