No. 10 ASU’s victory over Texas Southern (25-15, 25-17, 25-8) gave head coach Jason Watson the opportunity to experiment with players and lineups.
After Friday night’s match against UNLV, Watson said the Rebels gave him the chance to give freshman middle blocker Jasmine Koonts some playing time. She’s expected to play a big role next year after senior middles blockers Whitney Follette and Mercedes Binns graduate.
Koontz started over Follette on Saturday afternoon. She was ineffective offensively, accumulating three errors and no kills on eight attempts; however, her defense gave ASU a spark. She had three blocks in the game, the most for any ASU player.
Senior middle blocker Andi Lowrance and junior libero Mia Mazon received playing time for the first time this season. The two veterans checked in and out of set two, and Lowrance got a kill on her first attempt.
Mazon’s playing time gave ASU only two hitters on the court. For almost all of the season, the 6-2 style has placed three outside hitters on the court. With two liberos and a setter, the smaller back row gave ASU a different attacking game.
Freshman libero Blair Robalin also got a few sets on the court for the first time in her career before being subbed out as she got to the net in the rotation.
Follette did not play. Junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell had three kills on five attempts in the first set, and did not return to play in the final two.
Senior outside hitter Macey Gardner played for the majority of the game. TSU struggled to stop her powerful hits; for the first set-and-a-half, she was almost unstoppable; it seemed as though every ball she touched would fly over a defender’s hand or ricochet off their dig attempt.
Midway through set two, TSU adjusted to her power. After beginning the game with five kills in 10 attempts, Gardner went on a streak with one kill and two errors in eight attempts.
She quieted down and got some rest on the bench before returning and closing the match with three consecutive kills.
Gardner is now 91 kills away from becoming the all-time ASU leader in kills.
TSU’s leader, junior middle blocker Kali Fluke, finished the match with nine kills and three errors on 21 attempts. She was the only TSU player to accumulate more kills than errors.
Her hits were powerful and had good placement.
TSU finished with 19 kills and 29 hitting errors, amassing a -.112 hitting percentage.
Their hits weren’t as strong as many that ASU has seen throughout the year, TSU’s digging was also a big hindrance in their own effort. It led to many errant passes, and often, the dig didn’t come through. ASU had eight aces, one of which came from Binns, who typically gets subbed out when her turn to serve comes in the rotation.
Gardner and Pickrell each had two aces.
ASU players and coaches were unavailable for comment after the match. The press conference will occur following tonight’s match against No. 6 Illinois.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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