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ASU volleyball rebounds, handles Wazzou 3-1

(Photo by Kyle Newman)
(Photo by Kyle Newman)

Senior outside hitter Erica Wilson rises to hit the ball during the Sun Devils’ 3-1 win over UC Riverside at the Sheraton Invitational on Sept. 14. (Photo by Kyle Newman)

The ASU volleyball team took care of business Friday night when they defeated Washington State in their Pac-12 home opener.

After suffering a tough loss to UA earlier in the week, the Sun Devils (12-3, 1-1 Pac-12) bounced right back and beat WSU (10-4, 0-2 Pac-12) in four sets to win their first Pac-12 game this year.

“It’s great because we came into the gym this week, and said, ‘Hey, we’re not losing anymore,’” said senior outside hitter Erica Wilson. “We came into the gym ready to work on what we needed to win the next game.”

The first set began with both teams battling back-and-forth without either squad being able to get out to a comfortable lead. On sophomore outside hitter Nora Tuioti-Mariner’s serve, the Sun Devils scored four points to jump out to a 13-10 lead, to slowly build their lead. The team continued to build its lead throughout the set before freshman outside hitter Macey Gardner ended the set with a kill to help ASU win the first set, 25-18.

WSU came out strong in the second set, building a large lead to hold off ASU. The Cougars put the Sun Devils in a big hole when they created a lead as large as nine points at 15-6. It proved to be too large of a deficit for ASU as WSU took the second set, 25-20, to even up the match at 1-1.

Neither team could really pull away from the other in the third set as the set featured 11 ties and nine lead changes from the teams. With the Sun Devils tied 17-17, Wilson helped put ASU in the lead for good with back-to-back aces. Kills from Gardner and Wilson helped the Sun Devils close out WSU and take the set 25-21.

The fourth set featured as many thrills as any other set did with both teams continuing to battle back-and-forth with 10 ties in the set. WSU jumped out 9-5 lead, putting ASU in an early hole. The Sun Devils capitalized on a few Cougar errors to rally back into the lead. The lead was short-lived and both teams continued to exchange until WSU pulled out to a 20-17 lead. ASU erased the deficit, thanks in part to kills from Gardner and Wilson. Then with the score at 24-23, Wilson sealed the victory with another kill, giving the Sun Devils a 3-1 victory over WSU.

“You can’t play catch up in this conference and I thought after the first week if you can go 0-2 verse 1-1, it doesn’t seem like that’s a big difference, but I think it’s a huge difference,” coach Jason Watson said.

The home stand continues next weekend for the Sun Devils, when they take on Cal and No. 6 Stanford.

 

Reach the reporter at talopez3@asu.edu


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