When ASU volleyball head coach Jason Watson was asked after the team's 3-1 victory over Colorado on Saturday what the most important lesson for his team to learn in the days following the news that senior outside hitter Macey Gardner was out for the season, he gave a simple, yet profound answer.
"There is life."
The No. 13 Sun Devils (17-4, 6-4 Pac-12) lost 12 of 13 sets it played in a road swing through Washington and Southern California.
Losing the school's all-time kills leader and floor general was a significant enough blow that if one was to surmise that things looked bleak, it would have been an egregious understatement.
"People's roles changed, and they needed to accept that, and that it was okay to move on," Watson said. "We needed to feel like us moving on wasn't in any way, shape, or form reducing the role Macey's played to date."
They changed again without junior outside hitter Kizzy Ricedorff, after she said she felt pain her spine and neck. Watson said Saturday Ricedorff has been hospitalized with no timeline set for her recovery.
It was time for someone to rise to the occasion. Junior outside hitter BreElle Bailey knew this – she didn't need Watson or anyone else to tell her.
She let her play do the talking, picking up nine kills in a sweep of Utah Friday and followed that up with a career-high 16 kills and four blocks against Colorado.
It took more than just hero-ball to beat the Buffaloes, however.
Colorado responded after dropping the first set with a relentless attack at the front of the net, pounding home kills and rejecting Sun Devil returns with authority en route to a 25-8 victory in the second game.
"We've been pretty good at being pretty bad in game two," Watson said. "We didn't play any of those points very well."
The Buffaloes opened the third set with the same tenacity and vigor, but gradually tapered off and began to convey a sense that they were overmatched. Colorado smashed 12 service errors and hit .200 as a team.
How, then, did the Sun Devils reel off back-to-back set wins (25-12 and 25-23) while hitting .162 overall?
Watson's adjustments have helped redesign a system that is still being adjusted on the fly to best suit the strengths of its key players and isn't exclusive to providing opportunities for a select few.
"We've had to adjust very quickly," Bailey said. "I think we've done it, and we're doing it really well."
Both Bailey and senior middle blocker Whitney Follette are getting more looks than they're used to.
Sophomore Halle Harker is being used as a mobile passer outside of her libero spot on all six rotations.
Watson said Harker's ability to read and react to which side of the court will have provide better lanes on any given play is a stabilizing factor in the new attack.
It's an unorthodox scheme, in that it rotates setters in for middle blockers and liberos are substituted for right outside hitters.
Follette registered nine kills and four blocks, including the game-winner on the first match point of the final set – the 400th of her career.
The eighth-year head coach has cultivated an environment in which veterans like Bailey and Follette can buy in to changes quickly. Once they've adapted, it opens up more room for growth with freshmen like middle blocker Jasmine Koonts, whom Watson said has made a strong case for Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.
If Watson can guide this team and all of its moving parts back into consideration to potentially host a regional championship come postseason seeding time, he'll have cemented a compelling case to be named Pac-12 Coach of the Year.
Reach the sports editor at smodrich@asu.edu or follow @StefanJModrich on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepressport on Twitter.
