Anyone following ASU volleyball is probably used to hearing the same narratives – early leads, straight-set losses and a winless home record.
Once again, the Sun Devils opened their match, this time against visiting California with an 11-5 lead, and forced a timeout.
For once, that timeout didn’t shatter ASU’s momentum.
The Sun Devils continued to hold their lead – albeit a slim one – following the timeout, and finished strong, finally winning a set in front of their home crowd.
But that wasn’t the only thing they accomplished Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena; ASU rode a strong, complete-game performance to its first home win of the season, knocking off the Cal Golden Bears by final tallies of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-21.
"I was super excited for our girls to be able to play like that in front of their home crowd tonight," Stevie Mussie, head coach, said. "I think it's a big, big deal to be able to do that at home and hit your highest percentage. Very impressive."
Earlier in the season, Mussie mentioned that it would take someone saying "enough is enough" in order for her team to overcome its home struggles. However, it ended up being an overall team effort that keyed the victory.
This may have been one time Mussie was totally fine with being wrong.
"I think it was a collective group effort," she said. "I was pleasantly surprised to say that the least that it was everybody deciding that enough was enough."
In the second set, the Sun Devils (10-20, 3-15 Pac-12) proved they were just getting started, scoring the first three points and riding a second frame that included just five errors to a 2-0 lead entering the break.
As would be expected for a team who has gone into that break trailing 2-0 in each of its last five home games, that was a pretty great feeling. But ASU knew there was business left to be taken care of.
"I was super excited," sophomore setter Kylie Pickrell said. "I was ready to go out there and go three and go home. That's everybody else's mentality when they play us, for sure, so it was nice being on the opposite side of that this time, and going out there again knowing the pressure's on them to do something else against us."
The Devils take set two, 25-22!! They now lead the match, 2-0. #NewOrder #GoDevils
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) November 20, 2016
Despite the excitement, ASU came out slow in the third set. Cal opened up a quick 10-6 lead to force a timeout, but the Sun Devils responded and finished the frame strong to oust the Golden Bears.
"I think, just in general, winning two games and then coming out in the third game it's always hard to kind of keep that mentality and keep going forward," junior middle blocker Oluoma Okaro said. "I think that kind of showed in the beginning, but once we realized we were up 2-0 and this was our opportunity to finally defend our home court, I think that's what kind of triggered in our minds and kind of allowed that switch to go back and finish the game."
On the floor, it was ASU's precise hitting – which has been a struggle throughout the season – that was an impressive point of emphasis in the win over Cal. The Sun Devils have shown they can be disciplined for stretches before, but were able to sustain the accuracy throughout, committing just 13 errors and going for a hit percentage of .290.
Leading the way in terms of individual stats were senior outside hitter Maya McClendon and sophomore outside hitter Lexi MacLean, who tallied 15 and 11 kills respectively. Okaro added an impressive 14 kills of her own, each more explosive and powerful than the last.
Oluoma Okaro just launched an absolute MISSILE for her first kill of the night. 14-10 ASU.
— Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21) November 20, 2016
ASU has two games left in its season, both at home, coming Wednesday against Colorado and Saturday against rival Arizona.
Related Links
No. 12 Stanford too much for ASU women's volleyball in sixth straight loss
ASU volleyball falls short of No. 9 UCLA in straight sets
Reach the reporter at jeff.griffith21@asu.edu or follow @Jeff_Griffith21 on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepressport on Twitter.
