TEMPE – For a second top-10 sweep this season, No. 11 Sun Devil Volleyball took down No. 8 TCU in straight sets (25-16, 25-17, 25-10) on Sunday afternoon at Desert Financial Arena.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (13-3, 4-1 Big 12) swept TCU (13-3, 4-1 Big 12), the second top-10 sweep of the year for the Sun Devils, fourth overall under head coach JJ Van Niel. This is also the third top-10 win of the year, sixth top-25 win this season and 22nd overall ranked win under Van Niel.
- This win snapped TCU’s 12-match winning streak that dated back to September 4. It was the second-longest winning streak in the nation.
- With 12 on the night, this was ASU’s fourth match in a row with double-digit blocks, eighth time this season.
- ASU held TCU to a .048 clip, the second match in a row the Sun Devils’ opponent has hit below .100. It was the sixth time Arizona State has held an opponent to a sub-.100 hitting percentage this season.
- Senior opposite hitter Noemie Glover put down her first career ace, as well as continuing her double-digit kill streak, now with 10 in a row.
- Junior middle blocker Zoey Burgess continued her hot streak at the net, earning seven blocks to tie her new personal best she set on Friday. She also had a pair of kills.
- In another balanced effort, junior outside hitter Una Vajagić had a match-best 12 digs, eight kills, two aces and two blocks.
- Freshman setter Elle Mottola tied her career high in blocks with four. She and senior setter Isabella Costantini split setting duties, totaling 35 on the day.
Set one: ASU 25, TCU 16
The Sun Devils covered all of their bases to come out to an early three-point lead, 6-3, collecting a kill from Glover, a block from Burgess and an ace from senior middle blocker Ella Lomigora. A 3-0 run from ASU, including two kills from Vajagić, drew a TCU timeout, 11-6. The Horned Frogs were able to answer out of the break with a three-point run of their own to make the score 12-8, but kills from Mottola and Glover, as well as an ace from Vajagić, pushed the Sun Devil lead to six going into the media timeout. ASU maintained its lead coming out, and a block from Lomigora brought the lead to seven, 21-14, causing the second TCU timeout of the set. The Sun Devils didn’t let up as two Lomigora kills and an ace from junior libero Faith Frame brought the set point, 24-15. Lomigora added another kill to the books to close out her monster set and take the first for ASU, 25-16.
Set two: ASU 25, TCU 17
It was back-and-forth to begin the second set, the Sun Devils going up by two with a kill from graduate outside Aniya Clinton and a block by Burgess and Mottola, 6-4. They pushed the lead to three with a kill from Lomigora, and then to four with a kill from Vajagić, calling for a Horned Frog timeout at 11-7. Despite the break, ASU was able to maintain its lead before going up 15-10 heading into the media timeout. Clinton came out of the break strong with a solo block and a kill, paired with an ace from Rama, and the Sun Devils found themselves up seven, 19-12. TCU began to gain momentum, dishing back-to-back aces to close the gap back to four, 19-15. It didn’t take long for ASU to widen it again, going on a 3-1 run and forcing a TCU timeout at 22-16. The Horned Frogs got one back following the break but couldn’t stop the Sun Devil hitters as Clinton and Glover delivered three-straight kills to take the second set, 25-17.
Set three: ASU 25, TCU 10
Costantini and Glover kept the magic alive on the court to start the third set, putting down back-to-back kills. The teams then went kill-for-kill before Glover followed up a kill of her own with an ace, making it 6-3 in favor of the Sun Devils. An ace from Costantini and a kill from Vajagić contributed to three-straight points for ASU, pushing its lead to five and bringing a TCU timeout, 11-6. It didn’t stop there for the Sun Devils with Glover, Clinton and Burgess all recording kills, putting them up 15-9 leading into the media timeout. ASU took its largest lead of the night of nine after scoring three in a row out of the break, up 18-9 as TCU called its final timeout. This couldn't cool off the Sun Devils as they collected six-straight points to take them to match point, part of an electric 11-point long scoring streak. The Horned Frogs managed to get one, but a service error sealed the sweep for the Sun Devils.
Up next
Next week, Arizona State hosts in-state rival Arizona on Thursday, October 15, before traveling to Kansas on Sunday, October 18.
Quotes
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening statement
“Great environment tonight. Fans were huge for us. They were so loud. It felt like there were 8,000 people there. Thanks to everyone that came out. I am proud of the team and proud of the staff. I thought my staff put together a really good game plan, and they executed it really well. We talked about being really scrappy on defense and held a really good team to .048 (hitting percentage). It started from the service line, but all around our offense and defense was on, and it was great.”
On comparison from Friday’s hitting percentage to today:
“We were able to get them (TCU) out of some routes that they are really good at. They weren't able to get loose on their back row attack, which they've been really good at this year. I thought our serving helped out a lot because we were getting them in trouble there. As far as our offense, it was passing. We were passing the ball and digging the ball well. When you do that and get our setters hands on it, we can put up some good balls, and we got physical kids to put it away.”
On the dominant 3-0 performance:
“A lot of it comes down to the service. We were a little off the other night, and we were on tonight. Seven errors is phenomenal when you can have more aces and errors. On top of that, we were knocking them out. So we had a plan. We worked on it yesterday, and they did a nice job executing it.”
On game plan stopping TCU offensively and defensively:
“We had our blocking scheme and defensive scheme, and Evan (Hendrix) was actually hitting really well through the first couple sets. We cleaned up a lot, made a couple of adjustments, but it starts with the serve. I feel like our serve really puts a lot of pressure on them, so they are out of system more. Because when they were in system, they were doing pretty good. But our blockers did a nice job of getting some touches on what would normally be probably a kill for them. Once they got the touch, and our defenders were cleaning that up, it’s really good defensive game.”
Senior opposite Noemie Glover
On moving forward through the season:
“We've been on a mission to prove that we're the best team in the Big 12, no matter how it started. This is where we're at now. Each day we have to get better. We've got a team that we don't like (Arizona) on Thursday, so how can we use this performance, move on to the next one, then go on the road and face a great team at Kansas to prove that we're top of the Big 12 and that we're meant to be there, and this is how we're going to work to get there.”
On handling high emotion moments:
“Having that high emotion is sometimes misleading. I know that you can come into a match with high emotion, and then that comes into how you react to errors, how you react to kills, how you react to big long runs. Pulling outside of maybe all the expectations, all the emotions of things, and just really setting it down to the function. How do we win when we're back at the line? How do we put pressure on them when they're back at the line? How do we relieve that pressure, and how do we come out inside out quickly?”
Junior libero Faith Frame
On the key factors that helped win the game:
“We served and passed really well today. We really attacked at the service line, and that then helps everything else in the game. And then we communicated a lot in serve receive, and were able to put up some good balls for our setters.”
On preparing for their rivalry matchup on Thursday:
“It's important that we just maintain the same mindset. Before the games, JJ (Van Niel) has made a big emphasis on how we can control our effort and our attitude. And I think tonight we did a good job of working through. They're going to get good hits. They're going to side out, and we have to figure out how to make those plays quick and not just sit back and continue to let them get points. So just working through those little things, and we'll be good.”
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