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ASU dominates NCCU in second match of the Residence Inn Invitational

Sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey blocks a hit to win the match point against North Carolina Central University on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Eagles 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)
Sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey blocks a hit to win the match point against North Carolina Central University on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Eagles 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)

Junior setter Bianca Arellano sets the ball against North Carolina Central University on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Eagles 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat) Junior setter Bianca Arellano sets the ball against North Carolina Central University on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Eagles 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)

The relatively short North Carolina Central athletes couldn’t contain the massive towers manning the ASU net in a 3-0 Sun Devil sweep.

Sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey, standing at 6’4, and senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns, standing 6’3, combined for 22 kills on 32 attempts. They each had two blocks and deflected more than the scorecard showed.

The tallest NCCU player who received playtime during the match, Ashley McCarthy, was just 5’11. She finished with one kill on five attempts.

It was evident that NCCU lacked the talent Colorado State displayed the night before, and the Sun Devils took advantage early. They went up 7-2 in the first set and didn’t turn back, winning the set 25-9.

Junior setter Bianca Arellano exhibited a new serve style. In the past, she would heave the ball up with her right hand, leap and slam the ball down with the same hand. It would either be a beautiful, powerful serve, or it would crash into the net. Against CSU, she had three aces but six serving errors.

Today, she nonchalantly tossed the ball up with her left hand and didn’t jump to get it. She casually hit it over the net and cut down her error total to zero.

She showed dominance on the attacking side as well. She was 3-4 on kill attempts, and her only miss was on a play in which she had bad position and couldn’t make anymore passes in the possession. Arellano was patient in her setter attacks and timed her kills well.

A usual staple in the ASU attack was missing. Sophomore outside hitter Kizzy Willey sat. She was in uniform on the sidelines and wasn’t injured the previous night, so it is a presumed day of rest.

Sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey blocks a hit to win the match point against North Carolina Central University on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Eagles 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat) Sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey blocks a hit to win the match point against North Carolina Central University on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Eagles 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)

In her place, freshman outside hitter Madison McDaniel and redshirt freshman Genevieve Pirotte received time. McDaniel had four kills on 13 attempts and Pirotte had two aces and three digs.

"Madison is a setter, and it's not uncommon to take setters and hitters and move them other places," coach Jason Watson said."With Whit out, and Andi in the middle, we needed some depth on the outside. She's been playing as an outside (hitter) in our gym for two or three days, and she's been pretty much error-free."

Two of McDaniel’s kills came in the second set. Through two, ASU hit .513 as a team. NCCU was at -.019. ASU won set two 25-14.

Redshirt freshman Kwyn Johnson got her second consecutive start in place of the injured junior middle blocker Whitney Follette. Johnson struggled tonight, not converting any of her six attack attempts and making an error on three of them. Twice in a row late in the third set, she softly hit the ball straight into the net.

"With Kwyn, we're keeping this experiment alive of playing her in the middle," Watson said. "We like it, (so) we're gonna keep going with it."

The third set was where Binns and Bailey shined. Binns recorded two blocks and a kill and Bailey added her own block as ASU pushed its way to an early 9-2 lead.

ASU wanted to put the game away quickly, and Bailey and Binns elevated their games to a new level.

Bailey kill. Binns block. Binns kill. Bailey ace. Binns kill. Binns kill. Binns kill. Bailey kill. Binns kill.

With two NCCU errors in the middle, ASU completed an 11-0 run to push the score to 20-2. NCCU went on their own run, cutting the deficit to 23-11, but Bailey had had enough.

She finished the final two points with a kill and a block. ASU won 25-11 and got their first win in the Residence Inn Invitational. The tournament will conclude tonight in a match against Pepperdine.

Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman -Stefan Modrich also contributed to this article.

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