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ASU volleyball prepares for two strong defensive Washington teams

ASU Volleyball vs Iowa, Sept. 7th 2014
Outside hitter sophomore BreElle Bailey dives for the ball against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Hawkeyes, 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)

BreElle Bailey dives for the ball Outside hitter sophomore BreElle Bailey dives for the ball against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Hawkeyes, 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)

Five days after playing against on No. 1 Stanford, No. 17 ASU shifts its focus to No. 3 Washington.

“They’re really good,” ASU coach Jason Watson said. “They’re low-error; they’re really clean.”

The Huskies (17-0, 6-0 Pac-12) are led by senior outside hitter Krista Vansant. She leads the team with 273 kills, the fifth most in the Pac-12, and just four fewer kills than ASU junior outside hitter Macey Gardner.

“She’s one of the most patient players in the conference,” Watson said. “She manages her game really well, and she doesn’t put herself in these positions to just make errors.”

Watson said his team is going to have to be patient and stay in long rallies to play against Washington.

The Huskies lead the Pac-12 in blocks by a large margin and have 50 more total blocks than ASU does. Watson said they’re one of the better defensive teams that ASU has played against this season, and ASU will have to be patient on both offense and defense.

Washington runs a 6-2 formation in which there are two setters on the court. ASU has seen this style against schools like Colorado and USC. The Sun Devils beat both those teams earlier this season.

“What it means for us is that we need to be able to keep track of three hitters at all times,” Watson said.

Washington’s two setters are junior Katy Beals and redshirt freshman Bailey Tanner, who have recorded 396 and 359 assists respectively.

That match is Friday evening at 6 p.m.

On Sunday morning, ASU will play against Washington State. The Cougars (9-9, 0-6 Pac-12) are unranked, but Watson reiterated that all Pac-12 teams pose a challenge.

“They’re working really hard to get the margins on their side,” Watson said. “One of these days, it’s going to happen.”

He said he hasn’t seen much film of Washington State because he is focusing on the first matchup of the week. They have players with gaudy numbers, though.

Sophomore setter Haley MacDonald has 737 assists, second in the league and only trailing ASU junior setter Bianca Arellano. Three of their players have more than 180 kills. Senior middle blocker Chelsey Bettinson has 84 total blocks, good for second in the Pac-12 and trailing only Washington’s junior middle blocker Lianna Sybeldon (111 blocks).

Washington State has more kills, digs and assists as a team than Washington does.

“I like the Washington State team,” Watson said. “I like the way they’re coached; I like the way they play the game.”

Watson said that ASU can’t “get caught up” looking at relative records and stats. They needed to focus on the competition, which is a tough team.

“I hope we get excited about it. I hope we prepare just as diligently as we have to,” he said.

There’s good news and bad news for the Sun Devils on the injury front.

Senior setter Shannan McCready suffered a concussion in practice on Oct. 7 when colliding with junior middle blocker Whitney Follette. She missed both games over the weekend. Watson said there’s a chance she’ll play this coming week but didn’t sound optimistic.

“Best case scenario (is) that she can practice on Thursday and maybe play Friday, but that’s best case scenario,” he said. “Each day we learn a little bit more.”

Follette, on the other hand, is back on the court after going through an appendicitis surgery in mid-September. Watson is waiting to put her back in the lineup until she is back to her former playing level and her teammates don’t have to be worried about her aggravating a recent injury.

He said she has been looking better in practice.

“I don’t know if she feels like she’s at where she was before the surgery, but each day I see these noticeable improvements,” he said. “I think she’s doing a remarkable job, I think she’s really progressed quite nicely. I don’t know what that means for this weekend all I know right now is … she’s ahead of the curve.”


Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman

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