Junior middle blocker Whitney Follete spikes in the fourth set during the match vs Washington State on Sunday, Oct. 19th, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils would rally from two sets down to beat the Cougars 3-2. (Photo by Daniel Kwon)ASU volleyball coach Jason Watson is confident heading into this weekend that his team, currently ranked 19th in the nation, can sweep the weekend for the first time in conference play.
The team will face No. 10 Oregon and unranked Oregon State.
ASU upset Oregon in October but lost to unranked OSU the next night.
“We played this five-gamer against Oregon, and it’s an emotional five-match game on the road and won and then we have to go around and do it again the next night,” Watson said in reference to the Oct. 24 and 25 matches. “I think that hurt us.”
ASU came close in each set against OSU, losing 25-20 twice and 25-22 once, but ran out of energy and let OSU get the 3-0 victory. Now, the Sun Devils will have a day of rest between each school.
“I’m intrigued to see this matchup against Oregon State, how we’ll do if we’re rested and prepared,” Watson said.
ASU will have to pay close attention to freshman outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall. She has 377 kills this season, 19 of which came against ASU in their earlier matchup.
Watson called her a freshman-of-the-year candidate.
“The impact that she’s had on that Oregon State team is pronounced,” he said. “They’re going to the tournament, and she’s a big reason why.”
Watson said ASU needs to force her to play long points to counter her court vision and range. The team has been digging better as of late, and over the last weekend, five individual players had double-digit kills.
As good as ASU will have to be to defeat OSU, it’ll have to be better to beat the Ducks. The Sun Devils came away with the victory in large part due to blocking 21 hits, the most in an ASU match since 2005.
If not for the blocks, ASU likely wouldn’t have won. Two of its three set victories came in 26-24 efforts.
Sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey has begun recovering from her prolonged slump, which will help ASU. Against the Oregon schools in October, she was in the middle of it.
Over last weekend, she hit a total of 20 kills and eight errors, a high ratio by recent standards.
Bailey will face a defensive challenge this week: adjusting to the angle of OSU’s hits.
“They’ve got kind of short hitters so they hit low in the seams,” said junior outside hitter Macey Gardner. “We’ve got big blockers so they’re just kind of beating us low.”
After facing OSU’s angles, Oregon has depth. Six players have at least 138 kills. The Ducks are able to spread the ball around and utilize both sides. Watson called the team fast-paced and more balanced out of the two Oregon schools.
ASU was able to negate the impact of the depth with the onslaught of blocks and held Oregon to a .137 hitting percentage. The 21 blocks is an unsustainable number, though, and they’ll have to rely on maintaining solid digging.
If ASU can manage to win both matches, it will break the streak of split series and perhaps secure its spot in the NCAA tournament.
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.
