Outside hitter sophomore McKenzie Willey hits the ball against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. (Photo by Ben Moffat)
No. 17 ASU overcame a rather poor hitting night and a frantic Colorado comeback en route to a 3-2 victory.
Senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns and junior outside hitter BreElle Bailey had unusually poor hitting nights. Binns had six kills but seven errors, hitting a season-low -.053 attacking percent. Bailey also had seven errors, but put down 11 kills in 34 attempts. This equaled a low .118 hitting percentage.
Junior setter Bianca Arellano, typically fairly accurate and selective with her attacks, had one kill and one error on seven attempts. She did pass for 47 assists, a match high.
Sophomore outside hitter Kizzy Willey had a stellar outing. She had 13 kills on 31 attempts and a team-low three errors (on 15 kill attempts). She also recorded 13 digs, tied for the most in the match, notching her third double-double of the season.
ASU struck early, winning the first two sets on a slim margin (25-23, 25-23). Willey and Gardner each had eight kills through these two sets.
Colorado came back fighting, though, winning the next two sets 25-18 and 25-15, respectively. This was in large part due to the efforts of junior outside hitter Alexis Austin.
Coming into the match, Austin did not appear to be a major threat. She had only played in 17 sets, recording 30 kills and 20 errors on 89 attempts. Her hitting percentage was a meager .112.
She got her chance against ASU, though, and shined. The junior had 22 kills and hit .361, both of which was a higher stat than any single ASU player. She recorded eight kills and a block in the third set alone, helping her team survive to set four.
Another key part of Colorado’s comeback was not as surprising: senior outside hitter Taylor Simpson, coming into the match with the second-most kills in the Pac-12 (246). She recorded 24 more today, and hit .333 in the process. In addition, she had six digs and three assisted blocks.
Simpson recorded seven kills in set four and three in set five.
After two dominant Colorado sets, ASU recovered its rhythm in the fifth. They were by no means controlled the game, though — they grabbed an early 6-3 lead, but it was as big of one as they would get.
A Taylor kill and attack error by Arellano cut the deficit to 8-7, and an Austin kill tied the score at 9. ASU took another lead, but another Austin kill tied the score at 13.
The Buffaloes’ luck ran out, though, as they began making errors late in the set. Austin herself had four in the fifth set, including her final attempt, which was stuffed by Bailey and Binns at the net. This block clinched a 15-13 ASU fifth set victory and a 3-2 Sun Devil win.
ASU increases its overall record to 12-3 and its Pac-12 record to 2-1. The Sun Devils will take on Utah on Sunday night.
2014 season in photos
[slideshow_deploy id='150397']
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter
