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Four get double-digit kills in win over FGCU

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Four get double-digit kills in win over FGCUFour get double-digit kills in win over FGCU
by Lauren Nuñez
Box Score

TEMPE – No. 7 Sun Devil Volleyball opens the home slate with a 3-1 victory (25-23, 25-21, 25-23, 25-13) over Florida Golf Coast University on Friday night in the beginning of the Nore-Stahl Classic. 

Notable Stats

  • Arizona State (3-1) beat FGCU (2-2) in the home opener. In two meetings, ASU is now 2-0 against the team.
  • Senior outside hitter Bailey Miller notched double-digit kills for the first time this season, earning a team-high 13. She also added seven digs.
  • Graduate middle blocker Colby Neal had a strong outing, reaching double figures in kills for the first time this season with 10 on a .429 clip and earning a season-high eight blocks. She also added an ace.
  • The blocking effort was strong again for the Sun Devils, earning 13 to the Eagle’s four. This is the third time this season ASU has had double-digit blocks.
  • Redshirt freshman Kiylah Presley made her first career start, earning a personal best of 11 kills, adding four blocks as well.
  • Another Sun Devil in double figures was senior outside hitter Tatum Parrott, notching 11 kills. She also had four blocks.
  • Pacing the offense, senior setter Sydney Henry had 37 assists. She also added eight digs and a pair of kills.
  • On defense, sophomore libero Faith Frame led all players in digs with 13.

Set One: ASU 25, FGCU 23
Set one was close from the beginning, starting off at seven a piece. The Eagles then broke away with a three-point run, 13-9. ASU slammed back, evening things up 14-14, with two kills from Colby Neal in that span. FGCU’s timeout ended and the Sun Devils came back on the court swinging with three kills from different players to make it 19-17. Miller and Neal got their fifth and fourth kill, respectively, in this set to lead ASU to set point at 24-20 before FGCU called for a timeout. FGCU wasn’t going down easy, tallying three more in a row to get within one and force ASU into a timeout to regroup. Despite the scare, a kill by Presley secured the 25-23 first set win for the Sun Devils. 

Set Two: FGCU 25, ASU 21
The Eagles started strong in the second set with a 10-6 lead. ASU continued to battle to reach a 14-13 deficit after a three-point scoring run. The Sun Devils tied things up 17-17  with another 3-0 run, including two kills by Parrott. The fight for the set stayed competitive with another tie at 20 all before FGCU scored two and ASU called for a timeout. The Eagles took the set 25-21 to make it a 1-1 match. 

Set Three: ASU 25, FGCU 23
The Eagles kept things rolling with a four-point scoring run to start the third frame. The Sun Devils responded and tied it up at five. After more back and forth action, ASU went on a four-point scoring run, 10-7, with two kills off separate Sun Devils and an ace by Colby Neal. ASU went on another sprint with three in a row, 16-11. FGCU fought back strongly, scoring five straight to make it 20-18, and later three-consecutive points to get within one, 23-22, which pushed ASU to call timeouts both times. Kills by Jillian Neal and Ella Lomigora shut the gate on the Eagles, the Sun Devils taking the third set 25-23 with a 2-1 overall lead. 

Set Four: ASU 25, FGCU 13
ASU entered the fourth set on a heater, scoring eleven straight, 11-1. This sequence had two kills from both Jillian Neal and Parrott, and three from Presley. A four-point scoring run carried the Sun Devils to a 22-9 advantage over the Eagles. ASU dominated the last set 25-13, taking the first home match 3-1. 

Up Next:
The Nore-Stahl Classic concludes for the Sun Devils on Sunday against Loyola Marymount in Tempe. The match will begin at 1 p.m. MST and will be live on ESPN+.

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Quotes:
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening Statement:
“It's nice to get home and play for another big crowd. You never know who’s gonna come out for a (non-conference) tournament, so I really appreciate all the fans coming out. Really, really good environment. You know, we have a new team, up front, so it took a little time to get the nerves out. And obviously we had to switch our lineup around a little bit because Noemie’s out, so I thought the team did a nice job. I kind of said it took them a while, but once we settled in we started kind of doing things we needed to do.”

On the difference of play in the fourth set
“Our serving was finally tough because they were inconsistent a lot in that area those first couple of sets. Their outsides were both hitting like .300 through the first three sets, and they both have big arms, but we should be more physical than them. We weren't able to take advantage of that those first few sets, so it took us a while to get that going, but once we put the serving pressure on, it created some nice mismatches for us.”

On Colby’s dominance throughout the game
“Colby is really, really physical and she's a great kid and she has some experience, you know, she's played in big matches. I thought the setters did a nice job getting her the ball where she needs it. And she's been working really hard on her serves. We hadn’t had her serving, and you know tonight I was just like, ‘Hey, we're gonna let you loose and see how it goes.’ We probably scored with her more than anyone else, and she was just crushing balls. And that was really cool to see.”

 

Senior Outside Hitter Bailey Miller
On working with setter Sydney Henry
“I've been working a lot with Syd on our connection because it hasn't been there the past couple games. I also had a huge block during Penn State and Pitt, so that was definitely a struggle. We just have been working a lot in practice to get that connection down. And it was just working tonight. I think FGCU is a really scrappy team, and they were digging a lot. So that was also another struggle that we worked around, just adjusting quickly and then getting intense and into the game.”

On the team’s progress so far this season
“We don't want to be peaking right now. We know that there's a lot of things we can improve on, and we know we will improve on them. So I think if we were at our 100% right now, we wouldn't be at that point at the end of the season. Getting those wrinkles out in the beginning is really important. And I also think just going through adversity in the beginning is really important because then later down the road, we will have already gone through that, and we know what to do.”

 

Graduate Middle Blocker Colby Neal
On the team’s strategic offense
“We have so many amazing, physical attackers. Once we get one going and then they commit to them, we have another one on the other side. You can always keep teams guessing. That’s the beauty of our system.”

On starting the season off with a tough schedule
“If there's a time to challenge ourselves, it's right now. We're a super new team, like this looks very different from the team last year. To figure out how our system goes and what feels right and what feels good, all those are important. To have all these challenges so early, right off the bat, is a good way for us to get ready for what's going to happen after conference.”