TEMPE – With every set won by two points, No. 8 Sun Devil Volleyball swept No. 16 Baylor (26-24, 27-25, 25-23) in an electric match Wednesday night at Desert Financial Arena.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (13-2, 4-0 Big 12) avenged its lone conference lost from last season by sweeping Baylor (9-5, 4-2 Big 12). The Sun Devils improve to 3-2 against ranked teams, this being the first sweep over a ranked opponent since beating No. 22 Utah on the road last season.
- The last time ASU won in straight sets where every set was won by two was back on September 1, 2018 against Towson in Puerto Rico.
- The Sun Devils remain undefeated at home, improving to 7-0. They also extended their conference winning streak to 20 in a row. And this is the ninth sweep of the season.
- Junior opposite Noemie Glover had a match-high 15 kills on a .357 clip, her ninth time this season with double-digit kills, fourth match in a row.
- It was another near double-double for senior outside hitter Bailey Miller, notching nine kills and a match-high nine digs. She added two aces and two blocks as well.
- Graduate middle blocker Colby Neal led the blocking effort with four, adding seven kills on a .667 clip as well.
- Senior setter Sydney Henry had 28 assists and eight digs. She helped the team hit over .300 for the third match in a row.
- Coming in off the bench to play on the outside, junior Jillian Neal had five kills, four digs and two aces.
- Attendance was 4,177, which was the second match in row over 4,000 and third time this season.
Set one: ASU 26, Baylor 24
Baylor came out strong to begin the first set, but a kill by Glover gave ASU its first lead of the night, 4-3. Soon after, the Sun Devils found their rhythm with back-to-back kills from Kiylah Presley to take the lead 10-6. The momentum didn’t stop there with two back-to-back aces from Jillian Neal. ASU continued with the lead after an ace from Miller forced Baylor to take a timeout at 15-8. The Bears returned efficiently, capitalizing on Sun Devil errors to come back within two 18-16, forcing an ASU timeout. In a tense back-and-forth set, a kill from Baylor brought the score to an even 21-21. Glover’s kill gave ASU the 23-22 lead, but after an attack error things tied right back up to 24-24. A kill from Tatum Parrott followed by an ace at set point from Piper Rama was enough to win the first set for the Sun Devils.
Set two: ASU 27, Baylor 25
ASU came out with a 5-1 lead to begin the second set, led by two kills from Miller. The Bears refused to let the Sun Devils slip away with the lead and quickly tied things up, 7-7. The back-and-forth set was tied 16 times with neither team letting up. A kill from Glover pushed ASU to a 14-13 lead. Ella Lomigora’s kill continued the lead 17-15, but Baylor’s block tied things back up once again, 17-17. A Baylor kill took the lead 19-18, followed by an ASU timeout. Two more kills from the Bears pushed the Sun Devils to call their final timeout, trailing 21-19. Henry’s ace followed by two massive blocks from Colby Neal earned ASU the 23-22 lead, forcing a Baylor timeout. After two ASU errors, the Sun Devils still found a way to stay in the game with two crucial kills from Colby Neal making it an even 25-25. A kill from Glover followed by a Baylor error put ASU over the top to win its second set in a fired up Desert Financial Arena.
Set three: ASU 25, Baylor 23
The Sun Devils began the third set with a vengeance, leading 5-1 early on with a slew of kills from Colby Neal, Miller and Glover. After a Baylor timeout, ASU only came back stronger, leading 9-3. An ace from Miller right out of the gate and a Colby Neal kill quickly forced a Bears timeout once again. Despite the deficit, Baylor remained confident with a kill and block to tighten the score to 12-9, forcing an ASU timeout. A kill from Glover and a Baylor error pushed the Sun Devils to add to their lead, 16-12. Lomigora and Glover’s kills furthered the lead to 20-18, with Baylor knocking right at the Sun Devils’ door. A Baylor kill tied the third set 20-20, but ASU’s Jillian Neal answered right back with a kill of her own to snag the lead 21-20. The Bears’ ace gave them their first lead of the set 22-21 and saw the Sun Devils calling their final timeout. Back-to-back kills from Lomigora and Miller delivered the Sun Devils’ 24-22 lead. At match point, a kill from Colby Neal got the job done to finish the sweep for ASU.
Up next
Arizona State will host No. 24 Colorado on Friday at 7 p.m. at Desert Financial Arena to close out the three-match homestand before heading on the road.
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Quotes
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening Statement:
“That was pretty wild. Amazing crowd for a Wednesday night, so thanks to all the fans for coming out. 942 (Crew) was there, our swim team was hysterical, again. Our team definitely plays off the crowd, and it was really nice to have such a big group out there. I feel like we executed when it mattered, got some leads, let them back in. But at the end, we were able to close our sets, which is nice to see some resilience out of these guys.”
On bench players stepping up:
“It’s awesome to see. We have quite a bit of depth, especially in the littles (liberos) back there. We used a bunch of them today. Jill (Neal), I was talking to her today and I just said, ‘Hey you’re our utility person,’ and she goes, ‘Oh I know, whatever we need to do for the team I’m doing.’ She’s kind of got ice in her veins. I’m like, ‘Hey you’re going to be a libero’ because we wanted her to serve. And then next play we’re like, ‘Hey, you’re going to go in for Tatum (Parrott),’ and she just went in and did Jill things. It’s really nice that she can kind of fill in any role for us. She’s awesome.”
On having strong serving, specifically Piper Rama:
“We’ve got a lot of people doing some really good things serving right now. We’re spending a lot more time serving than probably we had at the beginning of the year. We feel like we have several people that can go in and score some key points. Piper’s a really good defender too, so I think when we were able to get her in there, she took advantage and did a really nice job tonight for us.”
Graduate Middle Blocker Colby Neal
On the importance of blocking as the match went on
“We talked about it in our timeout right before, just how we need to get our block going. That's something that I really take personally, blocking, just as a middle is one thing that I know I can always do. It's the best way for me to make sure that I can touch the ball and have more impact in the play, so to get those blocks and have us really start getting more touches that were positive, that meant a lot and it was really exciting. You could feel the momentum shift when Noemie gets a block and Bailey sets it up perfectly, so it was great.”
On learning from this win moving forward
“I think that it definitely shows us where we have to improve and what our weaknesses are, despite the fact that we won. It also shows that no matter what adversity we're feeling, we are a gritty team and we have a lot of fight and we can win even if we're making a lot of mistakes or not putting things in the place where we normally would. So I think it was a really encouraging but also definitely tough win.”
Junior Outside Hitter Jillian Neal
On the Baylor rematch:
“I definitely would say there was a chip on our shoulder, not only for us but to just avenge our previous team. Geli, who’s on our coaching staff now, she’s been joking around saying, ‘Avenge me’. We were definitely more motivated and this was our one chance and we really wanted to beat them this time.”
On team leadership:
“It’s always someone different, even different games, different points, different sets. Just how everyone’s able to contribute and just show a calming presence and show hey we may be down right now but we can totally just get back up and just really have us have a reset moment. That’s definitely very helpful that everyone is capable of doing that.”