TEMPE, Ariz. – Led by strong play from the middle blockers, Arizona State women's volleyball upset No. 15 Washington in three sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-22) at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday afternoon for the second top-15 win of the season.
"It was fun today," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "We talk about this after every match, but it's fun when our girls execute what they're supposed to do. People want to say that Oregon was a fluke, but I hope people are starting to see that Friday was the fluke. This is who we are. If we can take care of what we need to take care of, I'm not worried about what happens on the other side. I know we'll play some really good opponents in the Pac-12, but if we play like this, we'll make it really hard for them to beat us."
Arizona State improved to 13-5, 4-2 in the Pac-12, after its second win over a ranked opponent this year, the most in a season since 2015. This was the first win over Washington (12-4, 4-2 Pac-12) since a road win on November 21, 2012. This is also the first sweep against the Huskies since September 22, 2000.
Megan Beedie had a well-rounded game, notching seven kills, three aces and three digs. She also had a .636 hitting percentage. Her counterpart Carmen Unzue led the team in kills with eight in the win. Courtney Leffel collected 12 digs and three aces.
The Sun Devils got ahead early in the first set, aided by back-to-back aces from Leffel to go up 5-2. Another tough serve from Leffel set up an easy overpass kill for Beedie, pushing the lead to 13-9 and forcing a timeout for UW. The Huskies responded with a 4-1 run to cut into the Sun Devil's 20-18 advantage. From there, the teams traded points until Washington scored two in a row to tie it at 23-23. A service error from UW set Callie Jones up for the set-winning ace, giving ASU the 25-23 victory.
After opening up with a 3-0 lead, ASU allowed UW to get back into it, tying it at 4-4. Unzue ended a long rally with a slam from the middle to break the tie and start a 4-0 run for the Sun Devils, going up 8-4. Arizona State ran away with the set after a 9-1 run made up of two kills from Alyse Ford and five errors from Washington. Nicole Peterson notched two kills down the stretch to get ASU the 25-17 second-set win.
The middles kept things rolling for the Sun Devils to start the third set. A kill from Unzue and a block from Beedie put Arizona State up 4-2 early on. However, the Huskies caught fire, going on a 4-0 run to take a 8-7 lead. The Sun Devils got back up by one before the visitors scored another four straight to make it 12-9. A 4-1 run from ASU tied it up at 15-15, capped off by a kill from Beedie. The two teams traded points until Unzue got a kill to go up 23-22. Danica Krstonosic came off the bench and had a stuff block to get the Sun Devils to match point, swinging the momentum to allow ASU to finish the set 25-22 and take the sweep.
Arizona State is back on the road next week with matches at UCLA and USC on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.
"It was fun today," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "We talk about this after every match, but it's fun when our girls execute what they're supposed to do. People want to say that Oregon was a fluke, but I hope people are starting to see that Friday was the fluke. This is who we are. If we can take care of what we need to take care of, I'm not worried about what happens on the other side. I know we'll play some really good opponents in the Pac-12, but if we play like this, we'll make it really hard for them to beat us."
????ASU SWEEPS NO. 15 WASHINGTON???? pic.twitter.com/jodjWXU1w0
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 7, 2018
Arizona State improved to 13-5, 4-2 in the Pac-12, after its second win over a ranked opponent this year, the most in a season since 2015. This was the first win over Washington (12-4, 4-2 Pac-12) since a road win on November 21, 2012. This is also the first sweep against the Huskies since September 22, 2000.
Megan Beedie had a well-rounded game, notching seven kills, three aces and three digs. She also had a .636 hitting percentage. Her counterpart Carmen Unzue led the team in kills with eight in the win. Courtney Leffel collected 12 digs and three aces.
The moment we downed the Dawgs. ?? #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/cD7Zy4GgSW
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 7, 2018
The Sun Devils got ahead early in the first set, aided by back-to-back aces from Leffel to go up 5-2. Another tough serve from Leffel set up an easy overpass kill for Beedie, pushing the lead to 13-9 and forcing a timeout for UW. The Huskies responded with a 4-1 run to cut into the Sun Devil's 20-18 advantage. From there, the teams traded points until Washington scored two in a row to tie it at 23-23. A service error from UW set Callie Jones up for the set-winning ace, giving ASU the 25-23 victory.
After opening up with a 3-0 lead, ASU allowed UW to get back into it, tying it at 4-4. Unzue ended a long rally with a slam from the middle to break the tie and start a 4-0 run for the Sun Devils, going up 8-4. Arizona State ran away with the set after a 9-1 run made up of two kills from Alyse Ford and five errors from Washington. Nicole Peterson notched two kills down the stretch to get ASU the 25-17 second-set win.
The middles kept things rolling for the Sun Devils to start the third set. A kill from Unzue and a block from Beedie put Arizona State up 4-2 early on. However, the Huskies caught fire, going on a 4-0 run to take a 8-7 lead. The Sun Devils got back up by one before the visitors scored another four straight to make it 12-9. A 4-1 run from ASU tied it up at 15-15, capped off by a kill from Beedie. The two teams traded points until Unzue got a kill to go up 23-22. Danica Krstonosic came off the bench and had a stuff block to get the Sun Devils to match point, swinging the momentum to allow ASU to finish the set 25-22 and take the sweep.
Dani came off the bench. Dani got things DONE. ??
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 7, 2018
This block from Dani and Megan will go down in history! #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/cUuUrE2loo
Arizona State is back on the road next week with matches at UCLA and USC on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.