TEMPE – No. 10 Sun Devil Volleyball defeated Houston in straight sets (25-19, 25-10, 25-16) on Sunday afternoon at Desert Financial Arena to close out the weekend.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (18-4, 9-2 Big 12) beat Houston (13-9, 6-5 Big 12) for ASU’s sixth win in a row in this series, improving to 7-2 all time.
- The Sun Devils held the Cougars to a .033 hitting percentage, the third-lowest of the season. It was the eighth time holding an opponent to a sub-.100 hitting percentage and the second time in a row.
- Leading all players in kills was junior outside hitter Una Vajagić with 15. This was her second match in a row in double figures and her 18th time this season. She also had three aces.
- The team had 10 blocks today, which was the 11th time this season reaching double figures in that category. Junior middle blocker Zoey Burgess led the blocking effort with six.
- Junior libero Faith Frame had 10 digs today, her 14th match this season in double figures in digs.
- Pin hitters senior Noemie Glover and sophomore outside Maéva Schalk both had double-digit digs in the win. Schalk led the team with 12 (her second time in double figures in digs), while Glover added 10.
- Senior setter Isabella Costantini had 29 assists, four digs and four blocks. The block number matches her career high and is a new season best.
Set one: ASU 25, Houston 19
The Sun Devils and Cougars traded points back and forth, starting the set tied up at six apiece. Houston took a two-point lead, but Arizona State responded with a kill and block from senior middle blocker Ella Lomigora, tying the score at 10-10. By the media timeout, the Cougars had a one-point advantage, but back-to-back kills from Costantini and Vajagić tied the set at 16 all. Following a 4-0 run, the Sun Devils took the lead, 20-17, forcing the Cougars to call their first timeout. ASU continued to build its lead, and a kill from Vajagić brought the Sun Devils to set point. A kill from Schalk won the set, 25-19.
Set two: ASU 25, Houston 10
Houston took an early 3-1 lead, but Arizona State was able to tie it up at 4-4. The Sun Devils then took a five-point lead following an ace from freshman defensive specialist Paige Lehman and a stuff block from Burgess and Costantini, forcing the Cougars to use a timeout. ASU went on a 6-2 run with kills from Vajagić and Glover, leading 15-6 at the media timeout. An ace from sophomore serving specialist Ella Lewis and a kill from Glover extended the Maroon and Gold’s lead to 19-6. Houston and Arizona State went back and forth with points, and the Sun Devils found themselves at set point following a kill from Schalk. ASU won the second set 25-10 after a successful coach’s challenge overturned the final point.
Set three: ASU 25, Houston 16
To start the third frame, Arizona State took a 4-2 lead with a kill from Lomigora and a pair of kills from Vajagić. The Sun Devils continued to build their lead, 7-4, with a block from Glover and Lomigora, as well as an ace from junior defensive specialist Piper Rama. ASU led 15-9 at the media timeout after a 3-0 run that featured an ace from Vajagić. Coming out of the timeout, Vajagić notched another ace, followed by a kill from Schalk, extending ASU’s lead to 17-9. Following a three-point run from Arizona State, Houston responded with a 4-1 run. However, the Sun Devils’ momentum couldn’t be stopped as a kill from Costantini brought the team within one. A service ace from Lewis secured the set, 25-16.
Up next
The Sun Devils will split away and home next weekend. Arizona State will first travel to Lubbock, Texas to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders on November 6. ASU will then return home on November 8 to host Utah.
Quotes
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening statement:
“Really nice execution by the team. Started off a little slow, but after the media timeout, I thought we executed much better. They got back to some things we said we needed to do and pretty much finished strong the whole way through after that.”
On sweep leading into playoffs:
“It's match by match. Obviously we had a couple injuries. We only have one setter, and you know it's Isabella (Constantini), so that's good. Just getting her used to playing in the 5-1 in the front row. So it's nice to get a couple matches in, and we'll keep growing from that. We started putting a lot of pressure on them from the service line, and I think at the beginning we were putting pressure on, but not taking advantage. So they'd send us a free ball and we wouldn't terminate. Our transition game got really good, so we were getting balls to the net. We were able to run our offense in transition and put the pressure on them. Any program knows if you don't get your kill on first ball when you're receiving, teams start digging it. You start getting frustrated and pressing. So I thought we just defended really well. Faith (Frame) made some great digs. Noemie (Glover), maybe was a little off offensively but had 10 digs and she was digging some heat. So it was great to see.”
On team’s offensive performance:
“You need to have balance, and I've talked about it all year. The fact that we've got Una (Vajagić), we've got Maéva (Schalk), Aniya (Clinton) when she's playing, is all great. Zoey (Burgess) had a nice match, really clean from the middle. It just makes things easier. It's when you have to rely on one person, it's pretty easy to defend. They were keying on Noemie, and that's why it was easy early on, and Zoey got a bunch of kills. If we had gone longer, Noemie would have gotten more because they stopped keying on Noemie as much because they had to defend the gap.”
On six players having blocks in today's match:
“I would say we're a pretty solid defensive team, and we talk a lot about smothering our opponents defensively. Serve them tough and smother on defense and we just continue to emphasize that and try to make that a key aspect of our program.”
Junior libero Faith Frame
On how back-to-back sweeps help to build confidence:
“This weekend was really good for dialing in on the things we needed to get better at and trying to focus on staying more consistent and playing as a team the entire game instead of just picking and choosing when we want to do that, and we did a good job of that this weekend. This gave us a lot of confidence that we can play consistent volleyball.”
On Costantini stepping up big:
“She's been just doing a phenomenal job. It’s really tough. She's obviously not the tallest out there, but she works her butt off. It's crazy those blocks that she can get at her height. She's physical, and she works really hard. She's been doing a really good job of leading our team and carrying our hitters.”
Junior outside Una Vajagić
On Costantini carrying the setting position:
“I think the whole team is believing in her. She's in a tough position now, but she's bringing great energy every day in the gym too and practices. I think that gives us confidence too in the games that she's gonna be ready for everything.”
On moving forward from setbacks to stay focused on team goals:
“I think we want to practice very well. I think after the (BYU) loss, we came in on Tuesday to the gym and everybody was practicing way better. I think everybody knows that we are capable of more and that we want to prove that, so I think we have a next match mentality. We don’t think about what was before. I think we can just learn from it.”
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