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On Tuesday, ASU coach Jason Watson spoke of the importance of resiliency in the Pac-12. Every team is good, and the big pack jostling for position in the NCAA tournament have to fight for every point.
No. 19 ASU showed their resilient side on Sunday against Colorado after dropping the first two sets but didn't have enough in the tank to complete a comeback.
Set one was completely in Colorado’s favor. The Buffaloes started exceedingly strong and energetic, taking a 2-11 lead before ASU could capture some energy and put in a strong effort. Colorado won the set 25-19.
Colorado freshman middle blocker Anna Pfefferle had four kills on seven attempts and senior outside hitter Neira Ortiz Ruiz had four kills on six attempts in the set.
ASU junior setter Bianca Arellano said Colorado attacked with their middles more than their film indicated they would and it took a while for ASU to adjust.
The Sun Devils settled in near the end the set, allowing themselves to keep pace in set two and perhaps creating some momentum on their side. They jumped to an early 11-7 lead but couldn’t keep the pace, making a poor pass and allowing an ace to land in play. Colorado went on a 5-0 run.
The match turned into a back-and-forth affair, with junior outside hitter Macey Gardner getting a kill and a block and then Colorado making an error to give ASU a 23-21 edge.
It looked like ASU was going to right the ship, but a Gardner error and a Pfefferle kill allowed Colorado to stay in. The Buffaloes ended up blocking Gardner to cap a 29-27 set two victory.
“Offensively, they were better than us; defensively, they were better than us and they certainly served better than us,” Watson said. “I was really disappointed in games one and two with just our composure on our side of the net, how we weren’t able to take care of what we were supposed to do.”
Watson put junior outside hitter Andi Lowrance into the match in place of junior middle blocker Whitney Follette. Follette had one kill and three errors on five attempts through two. Watson said she may have been fatigued due to the proximity of these last two matches after missing so much time due to appendicitis.
Behind 14-19, Watson made another adjustment. He inserted freshman setter Madison McDaniel into the lineup in place of sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey. McDaniel said Watson gave her one job.
“It was block number three, she hits line,” McDaniel summarized.
Jjunior outside hitter Alexis Austin, had six kills when McDaniel came into the game halfway through the third set. In the next two and a half sets, Austin had three kills and two errors on 12 attempts.
Upon entering, McDaniel immediately assisted on a block and sparked a comeback.
ASU, once down 13-19, scored six unanswered due to improved defense. Lowrance had a solo block, she and McDaniel combined for a block, freshman libero Halle Harker made an outstanding diving dig and the team forced Colorado into two more errors.
The Sun Devils hung on to win the set 25-23.
“We put (Lowrance and McDaniel) in and we switched the rotations so we gave (Colorado) a different look,” Watson said. “I thought it took us a while defensively to get better with that different look. Certainly game four we were pretty much dialed in on some stuff.”
Game four was all ASU. The Sun Devils jumped to an early 4-1 lead and didn’t look back, winning 25-15. They forced Colorado to make ten hitting errors that set.
Lowrance said the defense took away their tendencies and were able to adjust their hits enough even without making a deflection. Uncomfortable with the new angles they hit at, Colorado was forced into mistakes.
ASU escalated into the fifth set against the unranked team that defeated No. 15 Arizona less than 48 hours previously. ASU’s magic stopped, though, beginning the set with five errors to fall behind 1-6. It proved to be too large a deficit to overcome, losing 11-15.
Gardner finished with 22 kills on a whopping 62 attempts. Senior outside hitter Taylor Simpson of Colorado finished with 18 kills. Ortiz Ruiz had 17 while hitting .400.
Watson said it wasn’t the 6-2 offense of Colorado that threw off his squad. So many teams use the scheme, it isn’t new anymore.
“They were able to play their system better than we were able to play our system,” Watson said simply. “I don’t think one system inherently is better than the other. I think what makes a system better is if you do it better and they did theirs better than we did ours.”
Resiliency is important in the conference. Colorado’s ability to come back in the second set may have been the difference of the match.
I thought that the difference was… that we couldn’t close out game two,” Watson said. “Up 23-21 I think late in game two and to lose it in extra points… if we would’ve been able to go into the break split then we may have been able to help ourselves a little bit.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
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