The match against Utah, a team tied for last place in the Pac-12, was a must-win for No. 21 ASU.
Chasing 20 wins, three of its four remaining matches come against ranked teams. Two are in the top ten.
ASU came back in set three after winning the first two, sweeping the match (25-23, 26-24, 25-23). It was its first road win since Sept. 5.
"I'm happy for our athletes and staff," head coach Jason Watson in a postgame quote. "They have been working hard to put together a solid road weekend."
ASU’s biggest threat came from sophomore outside hitter Adora Anae. She takes very little backswing in a quick stroke, hiding her angle until her arm comes forward. It took time for ASU to adapt to her, but in the third set, she had four kills and six errors.
Thin air and Utah’s blocking prowess headlined head coach Jason Watson’s concerns coming into the match.
ASU out-blocked Utah 11.5 to nine; Utah only had four blocks through the first two sets before exploding in the final one.
The thin air was supposed to hurt ASU’s service and passing.
Sun Devil serving was greatly improved from last weekend.
They had five service errors on Saturday night, half of Utah’s total service errors. Additionally, freshman setter Kylie Pickrell had three aces, equaling the amount that Utah had as a team.
Pickrell led the team in assists with 20. Her and senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns are continuing to improve their connection. Binns rarely has to reach at awkward angles to lightly tap the ball over; now, Pickrell is finding her window, and it’s paying dividends.
Binns finished the match with four kills on six attempts.
She led the team in hitting percentage, but at the beginning of the match, ASU was hitting extremely efficiently. Holding a 16-14 lead, the Sun Devils were hitting .400.
Junior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell was very involved in the attack. The ball went to her often; three times in a single possession in a rally, the ball went to her. She finished with a kill.
She had seven kills in the set.
She and senior middle blocker Whitney Follette combined for 12 kills and led the ASU attack that hit .275 in the set.
Utah’s attack was nearly as efficient, though. When ASU was up 16-14 and hitting .400, the Utes were hitting .364.
Utah finished the set with a .244 percentage. In set three, it hit .300.
ASU hit .146. Pickrell had one kill and four errors.
Outside hitters junior Bailey and freshman Lexi MacLean took over the charge. They combined for eight kills on 21 attempts in the set.
What killed Utah, though, were service errors. The Utes had six in the set.
There were 22 ties and seven lead changes in set two. No team led by more than one until Utah took a 16-14 lead. The next two-point lead was on the set point, in which ASU won 26-24.
Binns came alive when ASU needed her to in set three. Utah jumped to a 5-1 lead headlined by three blocks, but three of Binns’ kills came in the set.
Pickrell had two kills in a row and then ASU blocked Anae to take its first set lead at 19-18. Utah took a 21-20 lead, but ASU forced Anae into three more errors (two blocks) to snatch the lead and retain it.
ASU went 1-1 on the away weekend.
"A split is good for us and keeps us alive for the postseason," Watson said.
The win, number 19, marks the first time in program history that ASU has had 19 wins in four consecutive seasons.
ASU players and Watson have said they need 20 wins to clinch an NCAA spot. The Sun Devils need one more win to reach that; the remaining schedule is against No. 2 USC, No. 9 UCLA, No. 19 Arizona and Oregon.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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