The improvement is evident.
Seven weeks ago, the ASU volleyball team played the Oregon State Beavers and lost in five sets.
When the Sun Devils hosted the Beavers this weekend it was a different story. ASU played a very crisp, efficient match to beat OSU in three straight sets.
Junior middle blocker Erica Wilson said the victory shows how her team has not lost hope over a tough season.
“Our team definitely has a lot of heart,” Wilson said. “I am so proud of my team because we could have easily given up but instead we took our chance and played together and won the game.”
Wilson and senior middle blocker Sonja Markanovich had strong offensive matches. Wilson totaled 11 kills and Markanovich had six.
Coach Jason Watson said that all year long they have been looking to get more offensive production from the middle blocker position.
He accredited the back line liberos and hitters for making good passes to set up the middles.
“A pride of ours is an opportunity to get the middles involved and they were incredibly efficient,” Watson said. “When that gets going it provides some other things to get going so our left sides were efficient as well.”
One of the reasons ASU was able to close out the match in three sets was because they took control of the serves. The Sun Devils went on several runs, scoring five or six points in a row.
Watson said the team stayed focused during their serves, which caused them to control the ball most the night.
“I really thought our serving was good,” Watson said. “We were on our target and we stayed on it. That led us into some point scoring opportunities.”
The ASU freshmen were some of the players that had a strong nights serving. Freshman outside hitter Nora Tuioti-Mariner recorded two serve aces and freshman setter Shannan McCready grabbed one as well.
Ducks defeat Devils
When the first set of a match goes past 30 points, it is going to be a hard fought game.
ASU lost to No. 20 UO 3-1 in a long, intense match with most sets being decided in the final few points.
The Sun Devils dominated the Ducks statistically but UO played well in the closing points to take the match.
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Ashley Kastl gave credit to ASU volleyball strength coach Pierre Ngo for preparing the team for a long match.
“Props to Pierre (Ngo), that’s all I got to say,” Kastl said. “He kicks our butts in the gym and during conditioning. We are very thankful for him and I think that helped a lot.”
Kastl had one of her most impressive performances of the year in the loss. The sophomore totaled and an impressive 27 kills on the night.
Watson said Kastl continues to impress him and since she is only a sophomore the future of the program looks bright.
He also said that it was the best he has seen McCready play all year.
McCready had a strong setting night with 53 assists, but she made other plays to help the team as well. She recorded one ace, nine digs, three block assists and even attempted a kill.
After the win against OSU and a strong performance against UO, Watson is excited to see what the team does the remainder of the year.
“It’s a chance for us to get a little run going,” Watson said. “I’m excited to watch us play. I think we are playing some nice volleyball.”
Reach the reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
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