Entering the second match of conference play last season, ASU's volleyball team was on top. It held a 12-1 record highlighted by its 3-0 sweep of rival UA three nights before and was looking to ride that momentum through the Pac-12.
The Sun Devils lost eight of their next nine matches.
This season, ASU has focused on one match at a time, one serve at a time and one play at a time. Junior outside hitter Macey Gardner said that philosophy will remain in place against the punishing approaching Pac-12 schedule.
“I think we’re just taking it one match at a time, and that’ll help us out quite a bit once we start conference play and get some tougher teams,” she said.
ASU has not found success against the Pac-12 so far this year. Its sole match against an in-conference opponent, No. 18 UA, resulted in a 3-2 loss. On Friday, it takes on No. 10 USC.
“They’re an amazingly physical team,” ASU head coach Jason Watson said. “They’re tall and they jump high, they hit it hard.”
He said USC's play is different than ASU has seen so far because USC is so “physically imposing.”
He’s certainly correct about the height: 11 players are taller than 6-foot-0. Five of them are 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4.
ASU lost 3-0 to the Trojans in October 2013. The team's looking to change that outcome and its fortunes within the conference.
USC is ranked high in the national rankings despite a pedestrian 7-4 record to begin the season. This may partially be a result of last season’s run to the second round of the NCAA Regional Championship.
The team hasn't played as mediocrely this year as its record reflects, though; three of its four losses have come against ranked teams (No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 20 UCLA and No. 22 Texas A&M;). Two USC players have more than 100 kills and four players have more than 90 digs.
The statistic that stands out is the serving of junior outside hitter Samantha Bricio. She has 37 aces in only 40 sets.
That’s more than twice as Gardner, who leads ASU in aces with 16.
Watson said he’s been trying to teach sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey Bricio’s serving technique.
“She’s coming along with it,” Watson said. “Full disclosure, we’ve tried to mimic that serve, and copy it, and teach it to other people in our gym, because we think it’s this really nice serve.”
It’s easy to see the similarities between their serves:
[embed width="600" contenteditable="false"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE5YY31GCNA[/embed]
Both of them start far beyond the baseline, toss the ball up while beginning a run, and jump-swat the ball while facing the opponents side with her body.
Junior setter Bianca Arellano has also been adjusting her serve. Against Colorado State last Friday, she would throw the ball up, jump and swat it as it came down. It was powerful, but not always accurate. She accumulated three aces but six errors in that match.
Since then, she’s adjusted her serve to a casual toss and short follow-through with no jump. Arellano called this a less risky serve.
“Sometimes it’s hard for me to get into my rhythm when I’m top-spinning,” she said. “It’s just a little safer, and I think we can score more real points if I stay down.”
ASU can’t afford to make their typical serving errors against USC and Pac-12 teams. If it's going to make it into the NCAA tournament, it'll need to continue adjusting as it goes.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
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