TEMPE – Behind a season high in blocks and three earning double-doubles, No. 11 Sun Devil Volleyball earned its fifth ranked win of the season by beating No. 23 Colorado in four sets (23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 27-25) at Desert Financial Arena on Friday night.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (12-3, 3-1 Big 12) took down Colorado (11-4, 2-3 Big 12), holding the Buffaloes to a .056 hitting percentage, the fifth time this season the Sun Devils have held a team to a sub-.100 hitting percentage.
- Additionally, ASU beat Colorado for the sixth match in a row, perfect under head coach JJ Van Niel.
- This marks ASU’s fifth top-25 win of the season in six ranked matchups, the 21st for Van Niel as head coach of the Sun Devils.
- On a night when the theme was Blocktoberfest, Arizona State had 15 blocks in the win, a season best. This was ASU’s third match in a row in double figures, seventh time this season. Three Sun Devils had six or more blocks.
- With her fourth double-double in a row, junior outside hitter Una Vajagić matched her personal bests in both kills (21) and digs (16). Her dig total is a new season high. Additionally, this was her ninth match in a row with double-digit kills and third match in her career with 20-plus kills (all from this season).
- Junior middle blocker Zoey Burgess had a career high in blocks with seven. She also added six kills.
- Graduate outside hitter Aniya Clinton had her first double-double of the season, 10th of her career, with 16 kills and 13 digs. This is also her season high in digs, her first time in double figures this season.
- Senior setter Isabella Costantini marked her first double-double of the season, 24th of her career, with 35 assists and 10 digs. She also matched her season best in assists. She has earned 30-plus assists in three of the last four matches. She also added two aces.
- Leading the team in digs was junior libero Faith Frame with 17. It was her ninth match this season reaching double figures in that category.
- Senior opposite hitter Noemie Glover chipped in 12 kills, her ninth-straight match with double-digit kills. She also neared a double-double with nine digs, adding six blocks as well.
- Junior defensive specialist Piper Rama set a new career high in digs, hitting double-digits for the first time with 11. She also had two aces.
Set one: Colorado 25, ASU 23
The Sun Devils took an early 4-2 lead to start the match, courtesy of a kill and block assist from Glover. Colorado fought its way back into the set with a block, tying it up 6-6. The Buffaloes went on 4-0 run to take back the lead, 12-9, drawing the first Sun Devil timeout. A kill from Burgess brought the Sun Devil deficit back to one, 14-13, but another four-straight points for Colorado called for the second ASU timeout. Arizona State went on a run of its own, two kills from Vajagić and an ace from Costantini brought the score to 21-18, forcing Colorado to use a timeout of its own. The Sun Devils kept the set alive, scoring four in a row with the Buffs at set point, but ASU could not complete the comeback as Colorado took the set, 25-23.
Set two: ASU 25, Colorado 19
Despite Colorado’s quick 4-0 start, with Vajagić serving, Arizona State was able to answer the call with its own 5-0 run. A back-and-forth battle ensued, the score coming to a tie seven times before a block by Glover and Ella Lomigora gave ASU the lead, 15-14, heading into the media timeout. The Sun Devils scored three-straight points coming out of the break, two of which being back-to-back kills by Vajagić, causing a Buffs timeout. This allowed the Buffaloes to claw back with a 4-1 run to make it 19-18, turning the tables for a Sun Devil timeout. Two kills for Clinton and a reviewed attacking error from the Buffaloes brought the Sun Devil lead to 22-18, forcing Colorado’s second timeout. Clinton delivered another two kills to seal the set for Arizona State, 25-19, tying the match 1-1 heading into the third set. ASU held Colorado to a .021 clip in this set.
Set three: ASU 25, Colorado 18
Arizona State maintained its momentum going up 3-1 to the start set, before finding itself back in a dogfight as Colorado tied it, 3-3. The Buffaloes took a quick two-point lead before the Sun Devils went on a blistering 8-2 run to make the score 12-8, drawing a Colorado timeout during the run. Glover and Lomigora continued to make their presence on the court known, handing the Buffaloes two-consecutive blocks to extend the Sun Devil lead to 19-11. Kills from Clinton, Burgess and Glover brought the score to set point for the Sun Devils. Colorado responded, going on a 4-0 run before a kill from Burgess brought the set to a close, ASU leading the match 2-1.
Set four: ASU 27, Colorado 25
The fourth set continued the intense competition on the court, neither team gaining a lead of more than two until an ace from Rama put the Sun Devils up 10-7. Another ace, this time from Costantini, and a kill from Vajagić maintained the ASU lead heading into the media timeout, 15-11. Solo blocks from Glover and Burgess contributed to a 4-1 run from the Sun Devils that resulted in a timeout from the Buffaloes. Colorado came out of the timeout scoring three-unanswered points to close the gap to 19-17, causing ASU to follow suit with a timeout of its own. A kill from the Buffaloes and an attack error from the Sun Devils tied the set at 22-22, leading to another Arizona State timeout. Out of the break, both teams went kill-for-kill, the Buffaloes having to use their last timeout down 24-23. Back-to-back blocks by Colorado gave it back the lead at 25-24, but Clinton answered with a kill to keep the Sun Devils going. She wasn’t done yet, delivering the final kill to clinch the match for Arizona State, 27-25.
Up next
Arizona State is home again on Sunday, hosting No. 8 TCU at 2 p.m. MST, live on ESPN2.
Quotes
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening statement:
“Pleased that we were able to battle back. It was pretty ugly in the first set, and for a decent portion of the third or fourth, where we let them back in. I was proud of the team for fighting back, especially when we got tight at the end. Made some big plays. Had some nice serving runs. Our passing wasn't where it needed to be tonight, but we were able to kind of battle through that. Hats off to the kids for pulling it out.”
On the adjustments that were made due to Colorado’s blocker’s
“We were just trying to remind our hitters of the areas on the court that were open. We were pressing a lot in the first set, and even in that fourth set, we reverted back to some of those similar habits. I talk a lot about working smarter, not harder. So it's just reminders: what's open and where they need to be attacking.”
On how important it is to spread out the offense
“It's been great this year because we've been able to get nice production from all three pins. I'd like to see our middles get more involved, we were able to get some runs when Burilovic was in the back row for them, that helped a lot. They're a good team. They held us to .179, but good blocking. They're a good defense. They were great at serving against us.”
Junior middle blocker Zoey Burgess
On how she maintains her high energy:
“I just have a very fun personality, and my whole life I've just said I'm gonna be who I am. As I've had a new role here at ASU, JJ just wants me to be who I am and bring a different role to the team. I'm not gonna be serious, like we need to do this, this and this. How I help the team is that I'm going to be fun, I'm going to be silly. What you're seeing on the court is who I am off the court. I play at my best when I am allowed to be silly and be fun, you're gonna get the best, but I also am going to bring energy to everybody else. That's just how I see my role, and I think it has been very helpful because we have a lot of different personalities and a lot of different roles. We have serious people, we have fun people, we have quiet people who lead with action, we have people who lead with words. I just like to keep it fun; we're just playing volleyball. It's serious, I can get serious, but there's gonna be a silliness to the serious, and I know where that line is. It's just me, honestly. That's just who I am.”
On the impact of strong defense:
“It really frustrates the other team, especially with our defense, when your hits aren't going down or when you're getting blocked a lot more than maybe you think you're going to. For me, it's personal. If you block me, I'm blocking you the next ball. I think we have gotten a little bit more personal with it, and we want to protect our net, we want to stuff every single ball.”
Graduate outside hitter Aniya Clinton
On having 81 team digs and their ability to match Colorado’s defense:
“I think last week JJ talked a lot about smothering people defensively. I think we kind of want to make that our identity as we keep going into Big 12 play because there's a lot of good hitters and a lot of good teams offensively. So I think we really focused defensively on just getting balls up, and it's really easy when you have Faith Frame back there to kind of lead the defense.”
On the feeling of the score being 24-25 in the fourth set with a two-set lead:
“We had a timeout I think right in that time. But we came together in the middle, and everyone looked at each other, and we were like, ‘We're not losing this point, and we're not losing this game. Whatever we have to do to get it done, we're going to get it done.’ And we just kind of knew. I feel like when we say things like that, we all just kind of have this look in our eyes that we trust each other and we know we're going to do our job, and that's kind of what we did.”
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