CINCINNATI – For a 14th-straight win, No. 9 Sun Devil Volleyball beat Cincinnati in straight sets (25-16, 25-16, 25-21) on the road at Fifth Third Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Notable Stats
Arizona State (26-2, 14-1 Big 12) swept Cincinnati (13-12, 4-10 Big 12) for the 17th sweep of the year and 14th win in a row (tied for the third longest in team history).
This is ASU’s 14th conference win, which is tied for last season for the most conference victories in a single season in program history.
The Sun Devil block continues to shine as they notched 10 in the win, the fifth match in a row with double-digit blocks.
Graduate Savannah Kjolhede had a strong outing, matching her season high of 12 kills on a .500 clip, which she has had two other times this year. It’s her fourth match of the season with double-digit kills. She also tied for the team high in blocks with five, which got her to 500 career blocks.
With a near double-double, graduate outside hitter Shania Cromartie had nine kills and 10 digs, her sixth match this year with double-digit digs.
Starting at outside for the second match in a row, sophomore Jillian Neal had eight kills and a new career high in digs with 11.
At setter, graduate Argentina Ung had 32 assists, six digs, four kills and three blocks for a well-rounded outing.
The co-leader in blocks was graduate middle blocker Claire Jeter, also notching five. She moved into a tie for second in career block assists in ASU history with 364. She’s now 14 away from first. Additionally, she hit .400 with seven kills.
Graduate libero Mary Shroll had 10 digs in the win, her 26th match in double figures this year (all but two).
Set One: ASU 25, Cincinnati 16
The two teams kept it close to start the match. An early long rally ended with a big swing from Jeter for the kill to put ASU up 3-2. Two-straight kills from Cromartie pushed the lead to 10-7. The Sun Devils then put together a 3-0 run capped off by an ace by Cromartie that found the end line to make it 14-10. Out of the media timeout, freshman Bella Faria subbed in to serve and pushed her team to a 5-0 run to extend the advantage to 19-11. The Bearcats were able to score three in a row, but a kill from Kjolhede stopped the momentum to make it 20-14. The Sun Devils held onto the lead towards the end, Kjolhede’s sixth kill got the team to set point before a block from Jeter and Ung clinched it, 25-16.
Set Two: ASU 25, Cincinnati 16
Arizona State held onto the momentum to start the second set and opened up with a 3-0 lead, started by an ace from Ung. Kills from Neal and Kjolhede made it a 9-4 advantage, forcing an early timeout from Cincinnati. Three-straight Sun Devil points that saw kills from three different players pushed the lead to 13-6. A run of four for ASU that had two blocks made it 23-14. To win it, Ung got the dump kill, Arizona State taking the set 25-16 again.
Set Three: ASU 25, Cincinnati 21
After the Bearcats went up 3-2, a kill from Roberta Rabelo tied it up. ASU slowly added to its lead, as Neal’s ace made it a 10-6 lead for the Sun Devils. The Bearcats got within one, but a kill from Neal got it back up to a two-point lead at 15-13 heading into the media timeout. Cincinnati tied it up at 16-16, but ASU got a breather with a service error to get back ahead and then scored four in a row to make it 20-16. Again, the Bearcats made it close, getting within two again at 23-21, but a block by Jeter and Miller made it match point. Faria’s second ace of the night sealed the sweep, 25-21.
Up Next
Arizona State returns home on Thursday to host Iowa State in Mullett Arena before a quick road trip to Colorado on Saturday.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Kimberlie Haner
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