TEMPE – In their second five-set match in a row, No. 23 Sun Devil Volleyball outlasted USC (25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 15-25, 15-9) in Desert Financial Arena on Friday night to snap the Trojan's nine-match win streak.
Notable Stats
MOST OVERALL WINS FOR SUN DEVIL VOLLEYBALL THIS CENTURY
2014: 20-14/9-11 (T-7)/NCAA second round
2012: 20-14/9-11 (T-6)/NCAA first round
2015: 19-13/8-12 (8)/NCAA first round
2013: 19-14/8-12 (8)/NCAA first round
2000: 18-12/9-9 (T-5)/NCAA second round
2019: 17-14/9-11 (8)
2023: 16-1/2-1
2006: 16-15/7-11 (T-6)/NCAA second round
Quotes:
Arizona State Head Coach JJ Van Niel:
Opening Statement:
"Any win in the Pac-12 is a good win. Of course there's a lot of emotions, it's my former team that I love dearly. Brad (Keller) is literally a brother to me. It's really funny, I was talking to Brad and he said it's going five-sets, and sure enough it went five sets. Pretty up-and-down game. I was proud of the team for how they just continued to grind away. Obviously in the fourth set they (USC) came out really hot after quite frankly just a pretty ugly third set. One of the weird things in volleyball is you play three out of five and you can be really bad in one game and you can still win the match. So I think USC did a lot of good and I think we were just really good at the end at the right time. Really fired up for that win and excited for the kids."
On how Claire Jeter serving helped mount a third-set comeback:
"When it's on, Claire's got one of the best serves, I believe in the country, and again this whole season it's been about us putting pressure on teams with serves. We just got them in rotation, and when you get a team out of rotation, you only have to defend one player instead of three. Especially a team that's as physical as they are. They have middles that can score, they have opposites that can score, they are very physical. Claire just got on a run and we made some good defensive plays, turned some things into points, and again you put pressure on them and they start making some uncharacteristic errors, shots that they wouldn't make. I thought we were being way less aggressive in the fourth set. At the end Claire was getting them out of system and it was a really important point run because they were ahead by like four or five points. But we got a run, got back into it, then it was a tied game, you never know what's gonna happen there."
On how big of a confidence boost it is to win a back-and-forth match:
"I hope they absolutely put this in what we call our confidence piggy bank. We did talk about that at the start of the fifth set. We had the California match, which was our first five setter, and at the end of that I said that this is a pretty cool thing because we hadn't done any five set matches and we came out on top. And we had the foot on the gas right away and got them in trouble. So I just said, 'Hey you've got to put this in our confidence piggy bank.' So when we started the fifth, I said to remember the confidence piggy bank, and we did it at California and let's go do it again, and we did so it was cool."
Senior Opposite Hitter Marta Levinska
On the mindset on going into the fifth set
"We did a good job in the fifth set of serving and I think that was the key. We were just kind of dialed in and we were ready to go. We knew our assignments and were super disciplined. We got fired up and kept pushing and that's probably why we won."
On added pressure facing JJ's former school
"I wanted to win it for him. I think he was super fired up too. I'm just super happy that at the end of this day we were able to give him this win. We scouted them a lot and put a lot of work into this game. The coaches and everyone else put so much work into this game so I'm glad we were able to win it for him and the whole staff and us."
Graduate Libero Mary Shroll
On stats not reflecting the score
"That can definitely happen and the super important thing is being gritty and relentless, coming out in that fifth set. Going into the fifth, we were just really fired up and ready to go. That is a testament to our team and how well we have played with each other. We trust each other and it really shows coming out in the fifth set and just being gritty. Some things might not have gone our way tonight, but in the end we pulled it together and just played as a team."
On the mindset on going into the fifth set
"We were really excited. It's easy to get down when you take a loss that like, especially being up 2-1 and then having them come back in the fourth. We had another five-setter against Cal this year and we did the same thing in the fifth. We were really excited and ready to defend our home court. It was all excitement in the huddle, we were ready to go."
On the team's confidence after winning in five
"It can be really hard when you go up 2-1 and the other team comes back. I know a lot of people talk about reverse sweeps, but having that win (against Cal) and knowing we can come back with a clean slate in the fifth set that anyone can win was a huge added confidence. This proves that we are a gritty team and when it comes down to it it, we can push and get the win."
Set One: ASU 25, USC 21
The Sun Devils maintained the lead over the Trojans from the start of the first set. Jeter got her first block of the match to put ASU up 5-1.The Sun Devils put enough pressure on the Trojans, causing them to call a timeout with the Sun Devils ahead 11-5. The timeout may have aided USC enough to put two points on the board 11-7, but a kill from Maddie McLaughlin brought the Sun Devils back 12-7. Another kill from Levinska caused USC to call a timeout at 21-18. Jeter's kill took the first set win for the Sun Devils 25-21.
Set Two: USC 25, ASU 21
The second set started off neck and neck between the two teams. In this frame, there were nine ties and three lead changes. ASU put together a 5-1 run to go up 9-5. USC scored four in a row to tie it at 9-9 before the back and forth started again. The visiting team put together four in a row again to take the 17-13 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish. ASU was not able to fend off USC for their final set point to win 25-21.
Set Three: ASU 25, USC 23
ASU started the third set off strong with a lead on USC 3-1 after an ace from Cyr. However, the Trojans responded and took the lead for the majority of the set. USC pulled ahead of ASU 13-7 followed by a timeout from ASU. With the Sun Devils down as much as six, they started to make a comeback. With kills from Roberta Rabelo and Levinska and an ace from Shroll, the deficit was cut to 19-16 when USC called a timeout. When the Sun Devils caught up, down by just one at 22-21, the Trojans called their second timeout. That was followed by a kill from Cyr and a USC error capped off a 5-0 run with Jeter at the service line. A service error from USC gave ASU its set point followed by Levinska closing out the game with a kill 25-23.
Set Four: USC 25, ASU 15
The Trojans started the fourth set off with a 5-0 lead over the Sun Devils, a deficit that the home team would not be able to come back from. USC maintained the lead on Arizona State at 11-4, forcing a timeout from ASU. Cyr was able to give the Sun Devils their last kill at 23-15 before USC closed the fourth set 25-15.
Set Five: ASU 15, USC 9
With another back and forth start, the Sun Devils pulled ahead and did not look back with a block from Jeter, making it 5-4. Cyr served ASU to four-straight points to make it 9-5. With control of the set, Levinska's kill clinched match point and finished off USC with a final score of 15-9.
Next Up
The Sun Devils will take on UCLA this Sunday in Mullett Arena at 1 p.m. MST. It will be on the ASU Live Stream.
Notable Stats
- After playing its first five-set match last weekend, Arizona State (16-1, 4-1 Pac-12) played its second in a row against USC (10-5, 4-1 Pac-12), a team receiving votes in the poll. ASU is now 2-0 in five-set matches.
- This was the first win against USC since November 18, 2018 and snapped a nine-match win streak that the Trojans were on. ASU was also USC's first conference loss.
- Three Sun Devils were in double figures for kills: Marta Levinksa (19), Geli Cyr (11) and Claire Jeter (10).
- Levinska led the way and also had 10 digs for her second double-double of the season. Her 19 kills moved her up to 12th place in the ASU record book for career kills, now at 1,264. She passed Mindy Gowell (1987-91).
- Graduate setter Shannon Shields paced the offense with 43 assists. She is 20 assists away from 2,000 career assists. She also added 13 digs for her third double-double of the year.
- The team leader in digs was graduate libero Mary Shroll with 19. That total matches her season high that she earned last week in the win at Cal.
- In addition to her 10 kills, senior middle blocker Jeter led the team in blocks with four. She reached double figures in kills for the second time this season.
- Cyr, a junior outside hitter, matched her career high in aces with three to go along with her 11 kills. She added eight digs as well.
- This was the first sporting event of any kind for ASU in Desert Financial Arena this season.
MOST OVERALL WINS FOR SUN DEVIL VOLLEYBALL THIS CENTURY
2014: 20-14/9-11 (T-7)/NCAA second round
2012: 20-14/9-11 (T-6)/NCAA first round
2015: 19-13/8-12 (8)/NCAA first round
2013: 19-14/8-12 (8)/NCAA first round
2000: 18-12/9-9 (T-5)/NCAA second round
2019: 17-14/9-11 (8)
2023: 16-1/2-1
2006: 16-15/7-11 (T-6)/NCAA second round
Quotes:
Arizona State Head Coach JJ Van Niel:
Opening Statement:
"Any win in the Pac-12 is a good win. Of course there's a lot of emotions, it's my former team that I love dearly. Brad (Keller) is literally a brother to me. It's really funny, I was talking to Brad and he said it's going five-sets, and sure enough it went five sets. Pretty up-and-down game. I was proud of the team for how they just continued to grind away. Obviously in the fourth set they (USC) came out really hot after quite frankly just a pretty ugly third set. One of the weird things in volleyball is you play three out of five and you can be really bad in one game and you can still win the match. So I think USC did a lot of good and I think we were just really good at the end at the right time. Really fired up for that win and excited for the kids."
On how Claire Jeter serving helped mount a third-set comeback:
"When it's on, Claire's got one of the best serves, I believe in the country, and again this whole season it's been about us putting pressure on teams with serves. We just got them in rotation, and when you get a team out of rotation, you only have to defend one player instead of three. Especially a team that's as physical as they are. They have middles that can score, they have opposites that can score, they are very physical. Claire just got on a run and we made some good defensive plays, turned some things into points, and again you put pressure on them and they start making some uncharacteristic errors, shots that they wouldn't make. I thought we were being way less aggressive in the fourth set. At the end Claire was getting them out of system and it was a really important point run because they were ahead by like four or five points. But we got a run, got back into it, then it was a tied game, you never know what's gonna happen there."
On how big of a confidence boost it is to win a back-and-forth match:
"I hope they absolutely put this in what we call our confidence piggy bank. We did talk about that at the start of the fifth set. We had the California match, which was our first five setter, and at the end of that I said that this is a pretty cool thing because we hadn't done any five set matches and we came out on top. And we had the foot on the gas right away and got them in trouble. So I just said, 'Hey you've got to put this in our confidence piggy bank.' So when we started the fifth, I said to remember the confidence piggy bank, and we did it at California and let's go do it again, and we did so it was cool."
Great day to be a Devil ?? #ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/jdDhbFCpVV
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 7, 2023
Senior Opposite Hitter Marta Levinska
On the mindset on going into the fifth set
"We did a good job in the fifth set of serving and I think that was the key. We were just kind of dialed in and we were ready to go. We knew our assignments and were super disciplined. We got fired up and kept pushing and that's probably why we won."
On added pressure facing JJ's former school
"I wanted to win it for him. I think he was super fired up too. I'm just super happy that at the end of this day we were able to give him this win. We scouted them a lot and put a lot of work into this game. The coaches and everyone else put so much work into this game so I'm glad we were able to win it for him and the whole staff and us."
Graduate Libero Mary Shroll
On stats not reflecting the score
"That can definitely happen and the super important thing is being gritty and relentless, coming out in that fifth set. Going into the fifth, we were just really fired up and ready to go. That is a testament to our team and how well we have played with each other. We trust each other and it really shows coming out in the fifth set and just being gritty. Some things might not have gone our way tonight, but in the end we pulled it together and just played as a team."
On the mindset on going into the fifth set
"We were really excited. It's easy to get down when you take a loss that like, especially being up 2-1 and then having them come back in the fourth. We had another five-setter against Cal this year and we did the same thing in the fifth. We were really excited and ready to defend our home court. It was all excitement in the huddle, we were ready to go."
On the team's confidence after winning in five
"It can be really hard when you go up 2-1 and the other team comes back. I know a lot of people talk about reverse sweeps, but having that win (against Cal) and knowing we can come back with a clean slate in the fifth set that anyone can win was a huge added confidence. This proves that we are a gritty team and when it comes down to it it, we can push and get the win."
Set One: ASU 25, USC 21
The Sun Devils maintained the lead over the Trojans from the start of the first set. Jeter got her first block of the match to put ASU up 5-1.The Sun Devils put enough pressure on the Trojans, causing them to call a timeout with the Sun Devils ahead 11-5. The timeout may have aided USC enough to put two points on the board 11-7, but a kill from Maddie McLaughlin brought the Sun Devils back 12-7. Another kill from Levinska caused USC to call a timeout at 21-18. Jeter's kill took the first set win for the Sun Devils 25-21.
Set Two: USC 25, ASU 21
The second set started off neck and neck between the two teams. In this frame, there were nine ties and three lead changes. ASU put together a 5-1 run to go up 9-5. USC scored four in a row to tie it at 9-9 before the back and forth started again. The visiting team put together four in a row again to take the 17-13 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish. ASU was not able to fend off USC for their final set point to win 25-21.
Set Three: ASU 25, USC 23
ASU started the third set off strong with a lead on USC 3-1 after an ace from Cyr. However, the Trojans responded and took the lead for the majority of the set. USC pulled ahead of ASU 13-7 followed by a timeout from ASU. With the Sun Devils down as much as six, they started to make a comeback. With kills from Roberta Rabelo and Levinska and an ace from Shroll, the deficit was cut to 19-16 when USC called a timeout. When the Sun Devils caught up, down by just one at 22-21, the Trojans called their second timeout. That was followed by a kill from Cyr and a USC error capped off a 5-0 run with Jeter at the service line. A service error from USC gave ASU its set point followed by Levinska closing out the game with a kill 25-23.
S3 | COMEBACK COMPLETE??
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 7, 2023
???: Pac-12 Insider#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/VpxzR2vxeJ
Set Four: USC 25, ASU 15
The Trojans started the fourth set off with a 5-0 lead over the Sun Devils, a deficit that the home team would not be able to come back from. USC maintained the lead on Arizona State at 11-4, forcing a timeout from ASU. Cyr was able to give the Sun Devils their last kill at 23-15 before USC closed the fourth set 25-15.
Set Five: ASU 15, USC 9
With another back and forth start, the Sun Devils pulled ahead and did not look back with a block from Jeter, making it 5-4. Cyr served ASU to four-straight points to make it 9-5. With control of the set, Levinska's kill clinched match point and finished off USC with a final score of 15-9.
SUN DEVILS WIN??#ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/fIrfY1k5iy
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 7, 2023
Next Up
The Sun Devils will take on UCLA this Sunday in Mullett Arena at 1 p.m. MST. It will be on the ASU Live Stream.