Approximately 30 marching band members, a Mexican folkloric dance team, an ASU section of 2,011 students and a record-breaking crowd of 5,152 showed up to watch No. 7 ASU women’s volleyball defeat No. 14 Arizona (28-26, 12-25, 25-20, 25-21) for the first time since 2013.
The Sun Devils (12-0) are off to their second-best start in program history.
As energetic as the crowd was, ASU head coach Jason Watson’s energy was lacking. He casually mentioned that he visited the doctor about two hours before the match started.
“This is the first time in my coaching career that I’ve missed a serve-pass practice,” he said. “I was in the doctor’s office getting two bags of IV because I was exhausted.
“I’m glad we won, because I would’ve held that over my athletes’ head.”
Senior outside hitter Macey Gardner, junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell and senior setter Bianca Arellano said they all noticed a difference in Watson before the match, but they didn’t know what was going on.
“He’s not giving us high-fives, did we do something?” Gardner said after the match, laughing.
They weren’t in trouble. Watson had just expended too much energy preparing for a rival that swept ASU volleyball last season.
Junior outside hitter Kalei Mau dominated the early sets for the Wildcats. After two sets, she had 18 kills on 38 attempts and just three errors.
ASU’s own star outside hitter, Gardner, responded with a kill to tie the game. The teams traded pairs of points before ASU pulled ahead with a kill from junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell and then a block by junior outside hitter Kizzy Ricedorff and senior middle blocker Whitney Follette.
Follette had four block assists total on the night, which put her career tally at a tie for third-most in ASU history.
She’s not the only one rising in the record books. Senior setter Bianca Arellano took possession of fifth-most in the all-time assist category in a 39-assist night.
Watson said that the most impressive part about her ranking was that she’s done it in just over two years; Arellano transferred to ASU after her freshman year at Tennessee.
“It shouldn’t surprise me that she’s fifth, it surprises me because she’s done it in such a short period of time,” Watson said. “It doesn’t surprise me because that’s what she wants, that’s what she works for and that’s what she does.”
The opportunity to get so many assists came from an injury to freshman setter Kylie Pickrell. She injured her knee against Illinois on Sunday, and after two sets today, sat on the bench for the rest due to the pain.
The second set was a tough one for ASU in general. Pickrell’s knee flared up and Arizona ran away with a 25-12 victory.
The Wildcats had no errors in the set. Their 17 kills on 33 attempts was good for an incredible .515 hitting percent.
Going into this game, ASU held its opponents to a .094 hitting percentage, best in the Pac-12.
Mau was hitting .395 after the second set, and an unexpected change helped ASU adjust. With Kylie injured, ASU was forced to revert back to a 5-1 offense.
Watson emphasized that moving from a 6-2 offense to a 5-1 is not a very difficult transition.
“There’s a degree of familiarity to it,” he said. “We were looking at it all week. I thought that we were pretty comfortable making that change.”
Freshman libero Blair Robalin, who had practiced at the right back position in the 5-1 unit, played in Kylie’s place. Arellano played in all six rotations, including at the net.
Arellano said that Mau was moved to her side so she could attack the 5-foot-8 player instead of the taller pins on the outside.
“They actually switched our right sides,” Arellano said. “I was up at ten more and they started trying to force her at me… I think she was trying to hit different shots than she had hit all game.”
The change affected Mau in the fourth set. She had two early attack errors then was blocked. One of her next attempts ricocheted into the net.
Mau had six errors in the fourth set, which was more than the first three sets combined. She finished with a .258 hitting percentage.
Cassidy’s efficiency continued to improve. She had 16 kills and only one error, resulting in a .375 hitting percentage.
Watson said that he’s pleased with the way his team is playing and is impressed with some of its difficult wins, but doesn’t look into the standings too hard.
“We can say that we’re plus-one over last year in-conference,” he said, referencing the 2014 home loss to Arizona.
He then mentioned last season’s home loss against Oregon State.
“We get a chance on Sunday against Oregon State to potentially go plus-two,” he said.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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