Junior setter Bianca Arellano sets the ball in a game against Oregon State, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. ASU lost 3-2. (Photo by Ben Moffat)In a hotly contested conference matchup, long rallies and urgent play of Oregon State proved to be the difference in ASU volleyball's 3-2 home loss to the Beavers.
“One of the things that we’ve been trying to do… was to be better longer,” No. 19 ASU coach Jason Watson said “Clearly, we have a long way to go still with that concept.”
He didn’t change the intonation of his voice from his somber, frustrated tone, but the word “concept” implies the beginning of a learning process — long points are still a concept to the team, not a tangible plan of attack.
That’s not completely true. ASU did play some rallies long. When they were cohesive, they played extremely well.
“When we’re on task and we’re doing the things that we’re supposed to do, we can play the game at a pretty nice level,” Watson said. “We just don’t do it long enough.”
The back row had instances of great play — senior setter Shannan McCready diving for an apparently out-of-reach ball and tapping it up, or junior outside hitter Macey Gardner making a one-handed diving dig to result in an ASU kill. The team had a total of 100 digs, which set the single-match record for ASU.
In the fourth set, ASU had seven kills, four of them coming from the duo of senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns and sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey.
ASU had plenty of poor defensive plays, though. They haven't been able to fix their errant dig situation that sends balls either over the net or out of play. In the pivotal fifth set, ASU had no blocks. They forced OSU into just two errors and lost 15-12.
Junior setter Bianca Arellano dives for the ball in a game against Oregon State, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. ASU lost 3-2. (Photo by Ben Moffat)Gardner said that urgency comes by keeping the point-by-point mindset.
“There were moments in this game that we kind of took points off and in this conference you can’t afford to do that,” she said.
In the fifth set, ASU had an 11-10 lead and looked to be about to take control. The crowd was on their side, junior outside hitter Macey Gardner had just hit yet another kill and ASU was serving.
OSU freshman outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall hit consecutive kills to pull ahead. The match had long before turned into a contest between the two dominant outside hitters, but it became obvious in the final few points.
After the Gardner kill put ASU up 11-10 and Marshall had two, Gardner had a hitting error and then a kill. Marshall had a kill.
Junior setter Bianca Arellano switched things up on the final point. Earlier in the match, when she had gone to Gardner on about half a dozen plays in a row, she surprised OSU with a pass to junior middle blocker Whitney Follette.
Down 12-14 in set five, Arellano passed the ball to Bailey. She hit the ball over OSU’s baseline. Match over.
“I thought Oregon St. was much, much better longer,” Watson said. “Case in point was game five where we had some swings at the end and we hit them long and they were decent sets, good enough swings, good enough looks and we just couldn’t get it done.”
It truly was a battle between Gardner and Marshall. Gardner had 22 kills off 69 attempts, but hit a low .174.
Marshall had 28 kills on a whopping 87 attempts. She had only three errors.
To put that in perspective, Marshall accounted for more than 44 percent of her team’s hits. She hit only about 13 percent of her team’s errors.
Watson called her the freshman of the year, and went as far to say she should be in the conversation for player of the year.
“Clearly, her being on that team makes that team better,” he said. “Last year, they were 0-20 in conference. Now they’re going to the tournament and she’s the difference.”
ASU had an impressive freshman of their own. Libero Halle Harker had 33 digs, setting the ASU record for digs by a freshman.
“We did create, but we just couldn’t kill the ball. That’s a lot of digs,” he said, pausing to appreciate Harker’s mark, “But if you don’t return them, it’s all for nothing.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
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