SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – With three earning double-digit kills, No. 12 Sun Devil Volleyball swept No. 8 Stanford (25-19, 25-21, 26-24) on Thursday afternoon as part of the SLO Classic, the program’s second top-10 win of the year.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (8-2) earned its fourth ranked win of the season by beating Stanford (5-3). It is also the second top-10 win of the year.
- Head coach JJ Van Niel now has 20 ranked wins in his four seasons. Of the 20, six are top-10 victories.
- Graduate outside hitter Aniya Clinton had her best match of the season, earning a season-high 15 kills (tied for the team high) on a .522 clip. This was her second time earning double-digit kills this year.
- Pacing the offense, freshman setter Elle Mottola earned a new personal best in assists with 45. This was her second time notching 40-plus in assists.
- Also tying for the team high in kills was junior outside hitter Una Vajagic with 15. This was her fourth match in a row in double figures, eighth of the season. She earned her second double-double of the season by adding 14 digs as well, which is a season high. She also had two blocks.
- A third Sun Devil in double figures in kills was senior opposite Noemie Glover with 14. This was her fourth match in a row in double figures, seventh of the season. She added four digs and two blocks.
- The Sun Devils earned their ninth win against the Cardinal in program history.
Set one: ASU 25, Stanford 19
The two teams kept it close all throughout the first part of the set, tying six times. Vajagic and Clinton had back-to-back kills to tie it at 7-7 before the Cardinal scored three in a row. However, the Sun Devils got back on top after a 4-1 run that saw two kills and a block from Clinton to make it 13-11. Stanford was able to tie it at 14-14, but a setter dump from Mottola put ASU on top heading into the media timeout. With freshman defensive specialist Paige Lehman serving, Arizona State scored four-straight points, the latter two being blocks, to push the lead to 19-14 and force both Stanford timeouts. With three kills from Glover down the stretch, the Sun Devils were able to close out the set, 25-19.
Set two: ASU 25, Stanford 21
Arizona State kept the momentum to start the second frame, jumping out to an 8-2 lead with senior setter Isabella Costantini serving. Clinton scored on six of those first eight points, five being kills. Junior defensive specialist Piper Rama served ASU on another run, scoring four in a row with an ace thrown in to extend the advantage to 12-4. The Cardinal put together three-straight points, but kills from three different Sun Devils made it 15-8 heading into the media timeout. Stanford had a pair of 3-0 runs in the back half of the set to close the gap to 24-21, but a kill from Glover ended it, 25-21.
Set three: ASU 26, Stanford 24
The teams were back and forth to start the third set. A rally that lasted over 50 seconds ended with a kill for Glover and gave ASU the 6-5 lead. The score stayed close, the Sun Devils not able to extend their lead to more than two, up 15-13 at the media timeout. A 4-1 run for Arizona State with two kills from Clinton pushed its lead to 20-16, bringing a Stanford timeout. The Cardinal put together a 6-1 run to take their first lead of the set at 23-22, forcing both Sun Devil timeouts during the run. Vajagic’s kill out of the break knotted it up at 23-23, but Stanford got to set point first in the next rally. A kill from Vajagic held off set point, then a block from Glover and Lomigora put ASU at match point, 25-24. The match was won when the ball hit off of Glover’s head off of the block and landed on Stanford’s side.
Up next
Arizona State’s final nonconference match will be on Friday against Cal Poly as part of the SLO Classic. It will be at 7 p.m. MST/PDT and live on ESPN+.
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